FATTENING OF STEERS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 13 



During the summer period there are no significant variations in 

 the gains made by the different lots. The silage, stover, and straw- 

 fed cattle, which had lost the most during the \vinter, made the 

 greatest gain during the first month on summer pasture. At the 

 end of the summer period the lots have practically the same relative 

 positions on the chart as they had at the beginning of the summer 

 period. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



The six years' work as described in this bulletin and in Department 

 of Agriculture Bulletin 628, serves as a basis for the follo^ving con- 

 clusions : 



1. About 2 acres of the average cut-over land in western North 

 Carolina when properly seeded to pasture will keep a steer in good 

 condition during the winter. 



2. About 3 acres of the same land will graze a steer satisfactorily 

 during the summer months, producing 300 to 350 pounds of gain. 

 In other words, 5 acres of pasture w^ill keep a steer one year and 

 produce 250 to 300 pounds of gain in live weight. 



3. Steers on winter pasture will stay in better condition throughout 

 the winter and will be better finished the following fall than steers 

 wintered on coarse, harvested feeds. 



4. According to the data given in Tables 2 and 3 of this bulletin, 

 2 acres of winter pasture, supplemented by 220 pounds of mixed hay, 

 stover, and straw and 10 pounds of ear corn for 24 days when snow 

 covers the ground, are better than the following quantities of feed for 

 keeping a steer through the \vinter: 



(a) 1,400 pounds of mixed hay and 70 pounds of ear corn. 



(b) 3,400 pounds of corn silage, 270 pounds of stover and straw, and 20 pounds of 

 ear corn. 



(c) 1,900 pounds of silage, 760 pounds of stover and straw, and 15 pounds of ear 

 corn. 



5. With a little work and expense to secure proper seeding, much 

 of the cut-over land in the Appalachian region south of Kentucky 

 and Virgmia, can be converted into winter pastures suitable for 

 either beef cattle or sheep. 



II. COST OF WINTERING AND F.\TTENING STEERS ON GRASS THE 

 FOLLOWING SUMMER. 



While the conversion of waste cut-over land into winter pasture is 

 a way whereby more cattle can be kept through the winter, the use 

 of corn silage also has possibilities. It takes about 1 acre to produce 

 sufficient hay to carry a steer through the winter, but the same acre 

 in corn will produce sufficient corn silage to feed from three to four 

 steers through the winter. Of course, in this region there is much 

 land better adapted to the production of hay than of corn silage. 



