88 Western Live-stock Afanagement 
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. Ina 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 
