88 Western Live-stock Management 



without waste. Since the usual cost of chopping is about 

 $1.50 a ton, when hay is worth $6.00, the saving must be 

 around 20 per cent in order to show a profit. In a recent 

 test at the Eastern Oregon Experiment Station, thirty- 

 six steers on long hay gained 147 pounds in 120 days at 

 a cost of $10.75 a hundred pounds, while another thirty- 

 six steers on cut hay gained in the same time 177 pounds 

 at a cost of $10.32 a hundred. In figuring these costs 

 long alfalfa was valued at $6.00 and cut alfalfa at $7.50 

 a ton. The steers on long hay wasted five pounds a 

 head each day while those on cut hay wasted 1.2 pounds. 

 The additional gain made by those on cut hay gave them 

 a noticeably better finish so that in this test, at least, the 

 cut hay was without question profitable. Further tests, 

 however, may change these figures. In some districts, 

 notably the Big Hole country in southwestern Montana, 

 the native meadows are irrigated, and are sown broadcast 

 with some cultivated grass seed, such as rye-grass, in 

 addition. These hays, after being carefully cured, have 

 a very high feeding value; in fact, the finest hay-fed 

 cattle are produced in this region. Something like 25,000 

 head are fattened in this way annually. In general, 

 upland wild hay has a high feeding value, but that from 

 the lowlands, especially where the land is swampy, will 

 not be sufficiently palatable and nutritious to justify its 

 use for fattening purposes. The Big Hole country is the 

 only locality where any large success has been made of fat- 

 tening steers on wild hay. Timothy hay alone will not 

 fatten cattle. The price which it brings as a feed for 

 horses, moreover, does not make it economical for cattle 

 fattening, even though it had a high feeding value. Vetch 

 hay, if cured properly, would be satisfactory for this 

 purpose, but practically all the vetch is grown in western 



