130 SILAGE IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 



the test the silage was about 90 per cent, sorghum and 10 per 

 cent, cow-peas. During the remaining 32 days, it was composed 

 of Indian corn. This test was based on the following values per 

 ton: Cottonseed meal, $27.00; cottonseed hulls, $7.00; cottonseed, 

 $17.00; silage, $2.50. 



At the Amarillo Sub-Station in Texas a test was made to com- 

 pare cottonseed meal and grass with cottonseed meal and silage. 

 The silage steers made 400% better gains. 



Mr. Henry H. Johnson uses 15 silos of 200 to 250 tons each for 

 fattening annually about 4,000 steers on his 25,000 acre ranch in 

 Oklahoma. Mr. Johnson says, "No farmer, large or small, can 

 afford to be without a silo. It is the only way to feed cattle at 

 a minimum cost. Any other way will cost a man from eight to 

 ten dollars a head more. Silage increases the flow of milk at least 

 half and young cattle will make faster growth on silage than on 

 ' any other kind of feed." 



A battery of four monolithic silos— the largest in the West — 

 was built in 1912, on the 14,000 acre beef ranch of Horace Adams, 

 Maple Hill, Kan. Each was 20x60 feet. They hojd 500 tons each 

 and cost $3,300, and are to store feed for pro_'^icing fine beef 

 cattle. 



The South abounds in just the protein feeds that are needed 

 to properly supplement silage. Cowpeas, soybeans, peas, vetch, 

 red clover, lespedeza, oil meal, cottonseed meal, gluten feed, 

 clover, alfalfa, wheat, bran or oats are all good. The South has 

 splendid natural conditions for stock raising. Regarding the 

 value of silage. Prof. Andrew M. Soule of the Georgia Agricul- 

 tural College says: 



"For more than fifteen years I have either conducted person- 

 ally or supervised experiments on the wintering of beef cattle 

 with silage as the principal form of roughnes's. In that time it 

 has proved to be cheapest and most efficient coarse feed avail- 

 able for use in the south. Cattle fed on silage for a period of 

 134 days made an average gain in the stable of 1.06 pounds, those 

 fed hay and grain a gain of .27 pounds, those fed stover and grain 

 .08 pounds, those fed silage and grain made a gain of 1.22 pounds. 

 These cattle were allowed to run on grass for 81 days. The aver- 

 age daily gain for the silage and grain cattle for both the stable 

 and the grass period was 1.36 pounds, the stover and grain cattle 

 1.19 pounds, the hay and grain cattle 1.13 pounds. The most 

 economic gains from stable feeding were made by the silage and 

 grain fed cattle. 



Under good management a grain ration as low as 2 pounds per 

 day will make substantial gains in the winter and maintain good 

 gains on grass. Three pounds of grain combined in the propor- 

 tion of two pounds of corn and one of cottonseed meal will make 

 an excellent grain ration." 



