WINTER RATIONS AND PASTURE GAINS OF CALVES. 



11 



just after they were turned to pasture. They also lost weight 

 slightly in August, 191Y. With these exceptions the calves each year 

 gained uniformly during the first 28 days, but not nearly so much 

 as they gained during the second 28 days on pasture. While the 

 calves in Lot 3 gained much more than those of Lots 1 and 2 during 

 the winter periods, they did not make so much gain as Lots 1 and 2 

 on pasture. Those which gained most or lost least during the winter 

 made the least gains on grass. 



SUMMARY OF FEEDING. 



1. The following quantities of feed per day per calf averaging 

 385 pounds in weight at the beginning of the winter feeding period 

 produced the corresponding gains in live weight for 134 days. 



Lot 



No. 





Average daily ration. 



Pounds. 



Total 

 winter 

 gain. 



1 



Corn silage ... . 



12.3 

 3.9 

 .6 



12.3 

 4.9 

 9.2 

 2.6 



Povnds. 

 1 







} 55 







f 



? 





1 46 





Clover hay .... . 



3 



Mixed hav 



1 98 













2. The calves which made the greatest winter gain (Lot 3) also 

 made the greatest total gain for the year, although they did not gain 

 so much during the summer period as calves which put on less gain 

 during the winter. Similar results, which are published in Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture Bulletin No. 870, were obtained in handling 

 yearling steers. 



3. In Avintering calves 4.9 pounds of clover hay (Lot 2) are practi- 

 cally equal to 3.9 pounds of rye hay and 0.6 pound of cottonseed meal 

 (Lot 1) as a supplement to corn silage. 



II. COST OF RATIONS FOR WINTERING CALVES. 



Whether to purchase calves in the fall and carry them through 

 the winter largely on roughage or to purchase them in the spring 

 after some one else has wintered them is a question which the thought- 

 ful cattle grazier tries to answer. No matter what the answer may be 

 on any particular farm or in any particular section of the country, 

 the fact remains that cattle are generally higher in price and are 

 worth more in the spring just before the grass season opens than 

 they were at the close of the pasture period the preceding fall. This 

 increase in value is due to the cost of wintering and the demand for 

 cattle to make use of grass in the spring. In the following discussion 

 the various winter rations are compared to determine which is the 



