FATTENING OF STEERS IN NORTH CAROLINA. 3 
On account of the relatively small area of land which can be 
cultivated profitably, the chief problem with most of the cattlemen in 
this section, as in other range sections, is to keep as many cattle 
through the winter as can be grazed during the summer. The men 
who have good pastures suitable for fattening a carload or more of 
steers nearly always buy their stockers in the fall. They buy part of 
them from men who keep a large herd of cows to raise stockers, and 
the rest from small farmers who keep from one to six cows. Nearly 
all the cattle are roughed through the winter on very light rations. 
Relatively few are fed on silage. It is expected that they will lose 
weight rather heavily during the winter, but that they will put it 
back very cheaply on grass the following summer. They are sold as 
two-year-olds for feeding purposes, going principally to the blue-grass 
region of the Virginias and the feed lots of Pennsylvania. 
OBJECTS AND PLAN OF THE WORK. 
This work was undertaken to determine the following: 
1. — The value of pastures in this section for wintering and finishing 
cattle. 
2. — The effects of the different methods of wintering on the gains 
made on grass the following summer. 
3. — A way by which stockmen can winter more cattle than is the 
case at present. 
4. — The relative cost of various methods of keeping steers through 
the winter. 
The work was planned to cover a period of three years to get 
averages practically free from the effects of variations in seasons, feed, 
pasture, and cattle. The feeds selected to determine the most 
economical winter ration were: Mixed hay, corn silage, corn silage 
w-ch stover and straw, and winter pasture, that had not been 
grazed the preceding summer. The methods tested as to their pos- 
sibilities for carrying more cattle through the winter were the use of 
sil^^e and winter pasture. The steers used were divided into four 
lots for each of the first two years and five lots for the third year, 
there being about a carload of cattle in each lot. The lots were as 
nearly uniform in quality and condition as it was possible to make 
them. At the close of each of the three winter periods the cattle 
were carried through the summer on grass. The steers were num- 
bered the same as in the previous winter's work so that the records 
of each lot of cattle could be followed from one fall until the next fall. 
As the steers were not given any other feed while they were on 
summer pasture, all gains can be credited to the pasture on an 
acreage basis. An outline of the work is given in Table 1. Changes 
in this general outline made necessary by the giving out of the supply 
of the various roughages at various times before the end of the 
winter periods are noted in Table 2. 
