WILL MORE FORAGE PAY? 



obtain some grain as well as hay and pasture, whereas the fattening 

 of feeder stock on concentrates is an important farm enterprise in 

 many areas. Draft animals are usually grained, at least while doing 

 hard work. Study of table 3 will reveal important differences in the 

 way each class of livestock utilizes feed. 



Table 3. — Sources of feed units for principal classes of farm livestock. 

 United States, average 194&-46 



Item 



Hogs 



Poul- 

 try 



Dairy 

 cattle 



Beef 

 cattle 



Sheep 



Horses 



and 

 mules 



Concentrates: 



All grain fed l 



Commercial byproducts 



Other. 



Per- 

 cent 



86. 6 

 6. 2 

 4. 6 



Per- 

 cent 

 70. 7 

 22. 7 

 1. 9 



Per- 

 cent 

 15. 8 

 8.4 

 2. 



Per- 

 cent 

 15. 5 

 2. 3 

 . 6 



Per- 

 cent 

 5. 

 1.0 



Per- 

 cent 

 31. 6 

 . 4 











Total !__ _ _ 



97.4 



95. 3 2G. 2 



18. 4 



6.0 



32. 









Roughage: 



Hav _ 







26. 5 14. 1 



12. 5 



78.4 



3.1 



33. 1 



Pasture 



2. 6 



4. 7 



37. 4 

 9. 9 



60. 



7. 5 



32. 6 



Other 



2. 3 



Total 



2. 6 4. 7 ; 73. 8 81. 6 94. 



68. 









Total feed 



100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 



100. 



1 Excluding corn in silage. 



Unpublished data, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, R. D. Jennings. 



Another facet of the feed-utilization story is presented in table 4. 

 During the period 19-1:2— 46 hogs consumed nearly 43 percent of all 

 grain fed to livestock in the United States and the three kinds of 

 livestock — hogs, poultry, and dairy cattle — took nearly 80 percent of 

 all the grain fed. 



Poultry and dairy cattle were the largest consumers of commercial 

 byproduct feeds such as oilseed meals, each utilizing well over a third 

 of the total quantity fed. Dairy cattle took well over half the hay. and 

 beef cattle and farm-produced power (horses and mules) each ac- 

 counted for about a fifth of the total ha}' fed. Beef and dairy cattle 

 were the principal consumers of pasture, as sheep numbers were at ab- 

 normally low levels. More than GO percent of the other roughage such 

 as corn and sorghum silage, corn stover, wet beet pulp, and sorghum 

 forage were utilized by dairy cattle in 1942-46. 



Tables 2. 3. and 4 present a picture of the relative importance of 

 different sources of livestock feed for the country as a whole. Specific 

 relationships for any local area are likely to vary significantly from 

 the national averages, however. During the war tentative information 

 was assembled on common rates of feeding in the different Stales. 

 These showed that milk cows in Western States are fed around L,500 

 pounds of concentrates and about 5,500 pounds of hay per year as com- 

 pared with 2,500 pounds of concentrates and 4,000 pounds of hay in 



S436GG-— 49 2 



