18 BULLETIN 870, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



greater gains made by the silage-fed lots. Steers from all lots were 

 to be carried over and finished the following year; hence, no actual 

 selling price is given. Had these increased gains been taken into 

 consideration in estimating the value, the added profit per steer for 

 the lots fed silage and cottonseed meal would have been even greater 

 than the amounts shown in Table 10. In this table, as in all others, 

 the steel's of Lot 2, fed corn silage, wheat straw, and cottonseed meal, 

 appear to best advantage, for they returned a profit of $19.72 per 

 steer as compared with $17.86 for Lot 1 and $14.42 for Lot 3. Lots 

 4 and 5 were included in the table, but in the comparisons and con- 

 clusions drawn they are not considered, as they were carried only one 

 3'ear. 



VALUE OF SILAGE IN THE RATIONS. 



In Table 11 the added value per steer to be gained by the use of 

 corn silage and also of cottonseed meal in the rations is shown. 

 Since most of the cattle wintered in West Virginia and neighboring 

 States are carried through on dry feed, the steers fed mixed hay and 

 wheat straw were used as a basis from which to make comparisons 

 and those feeds were considered a check ration. 



The increased value of the steer in the spring over the fall value 

 depends very largely upon the method of wintering, as is shown in 

 Table 8, being from $1.40 to $2.85 per hundredweight. When the 

 better methods are used the increase based upon the cost of winter- 

 ing will be on the average about $2 per hundredweight, which is the 

 figure used in making these calculations. 



Table 11. — Summary showing value of silage rations as compared with hay and strew 



(check ration). 



Ration. 



Average 

 yearly 



gain per 

 steer. 



Increased 



gain per 



steer 



over 



steers 



fed 

 check 

 ration. 



Value of 

 increase 



in gain 

 per 



steer. 



Average 



yearly 



cost of 



feed 



and 



pasture 



per 



steer. 



Decrease 

 in cost 

 of ration 



as 



compared 



with 



check 



ration. 



Increased 



value of 



ration per 



steer as 



compared 



with 



check 



ration. 





Pounds. 

 274 

 316 

 267 

 292 



324 



Pounds. 





$23.57 

 22.69 

 21.76 

 23.82 



22.22 







Corn silage, mixed hay, and wheat straw.. 



42 



7 

 18 



50 



$3.73 



i -.62 



1.60 



4.44 



$0.88 



1.81 



2-. 25 



1.35 



$4.61 

 1.19 



Corn silage, rye hay, and cottonseed meal.. 

 Corn silage, wheat straw, and cottonseed 



1.35 

 5.79 







1 Decrease. 



2 Increase. 



The addition of corn silage to the dry-feed ration resulted in an 

 increase of 42 pounds in the yearly gain of each steer as compared 

 with the check ration, and the substitution of cottonseed meal and 

 corn silage in place of mixed hay produced an increase of 50 pounds 

 of gain per steer. At the estimated value — $2 margin above the 

 initial cost per hundredweight — these additional gains would be 



