WILL MORE FORAGE PAY 9 19 



tion of milk will be approximately 70 percent of that when full fed. 

 Should the ration consist of alfalfa hay alone, output of milk would be 

 about 00 percent of that when the cows were full fed. 



The amount of roughage cows will eat when given as much hay, 

 silage, and other roughages as they want generally changes as the 

 grain ration is increased or decreased. 4 An experiment at the Vir- 

 ginia station (25) indicated that when 2.100 pounds of grain a year 

 were eaten by cows getting all of the good roughage they wanted, 

 the intake of roughage was reduced by about 1.100 pounds of hay 

 equivalent compared with the amount eaten when no grain was eaten. 

 At the same time production of milk increased 1,200 to 1,400 pounds. 

 In this test the grain-fed cows got grain at the rate of 1 pound of 

 grain to about every 4.4 pound.- of milk produced. A summary of 

 several experiments (21. pp. 33-35) in which a small to moderate 

 amount of grain (the average being approximately l..~)00 pound.-) 

 was fed along with good forage indicated that the feeding of 100 

 pounds of grain resulted in consumption of the equivalent of 47 pounds 

 less hay compared with a ration of roughage alone, and the production 

 of 91 pounds more milk. It is expected that the displacement of 

 roughage by concentrates will differ from these results as the rate 

 of grain feeding increases. An average for all rates of grain feeding 

 would be expected to approximate 75 pounds of hay equivalent saved 

 for each additional 100 pounds of grain consumed when roughage 

 is fed in unlimited amounts. Changes in output of milk would ac- 

 company substitution of concentrates for roughage. 



BEEF CATTLE 



Systems of beef-cattle fattening found in the Northern States range 

 from the raising of grass-fattened slaughter cattle to the fattening 

 of prime steers in dry lot on rations that contain 75 or more bushels 

 of corn for each steer. These extremes represent, on the one hand, 

 beef production from roughage alone, on the other, beef production 

 from little roughage and much concentrate feed. 



Under usual market conditions for beef cattle, older grass-fed ani- 

 mals are more acceptable for slaughter than young stuff'. This 

 ari.-es because 2- and 3-year olds are able to use a higher proportion 

 of their feed for "finish" than are calves and yearlings. A demon- 

 stration of this was observed in an experiment at the Missouri sta- 

 tion {32). Starting with choice beef calves, investigators there studied 

 the growth and development of the cattle, wintered on good roughages 

 and grazed on good pasturage in summer, from weaning time until 

 they were 3 years old. It was noted that not until the animals were 

 long 2-year olds did most of them carry enough flesh to grade as 

 "killing" cattle on the market. Before reaching that age only a few 

 carried sufficient finish to sell as •"killing" cattle. 



Feed requirements of beef cattle are well known. Knowledge con- 

 cerning them has been accumulated from the findings of numerous 

 controlled feeding experiments and from wide experience of cattlemen. 

 Greatest emphasis has been placed upon requirements of animals 

 managed under dry-lot conditions. Information as to the kind of 



4 Cows getting good-quality roughage in limited quantities eat about the same 

 amount of hay and other roughage regardless <>f the amount <>f grain fed. 



