9 BULLETIN 1251, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
of cultivated crops. While the region is generally cleared of virgin 
forest, there are large areas of cut-over land. The farms vary in size 
from less than 100 to more than 1,000 acres. On most farms there 
is sufficient tillable land for the production of winter feed. Relatively 
little surplus grain is produced. 
Most of the grass-fattened cattle which go annually to eastern 
markets are produced in this region. The fact that most of them 
are finished for market on grass alone attests the value of the pas- 
tures, which consist largely of bluegrass. The use of grain for finish- 
ing cattle is not general, although there are many sections where the 
practice is followed, particularly in the valleys of some of the larger 
streams. By far the greater number of farmers who handle beef 
cattle grow either stockers and 
feeders or finish cattle for market 
from grass alone. Therefore, one 
of the principal beef-production 
problems is to determine the best 
and most economical method of 
wintering the cattle and the one 
that will enable them to make the 
best possible use of the pasture 
the following summer, when the 
cheapest gains are made. <A com- 
mon practice in this area has been 
to winter steers on dry feed, such 
as hay, corn stover. and wheat 
straw, and on corn silage to a less 
extent, in such way that they lose 
materially in weight. They are 
then pastured the following sum- 
: Pore mer and sold from grass as stock- 
Mia, 1, Mop ahaing aidenlle which Sis work “ors, feeders, On finished syeen 
of the farm on which the experiment was con- There are some who hold that it 
ducted. The shaded portion represents the - 1 : . 
area to which the results are applicable, and 1S profitable to permit this loss of 
OE Ge tte polls apaly Gnu eo elgnb,. Which with “older sberke 
usually varies from 25 to 100 
pounds. Others believe that cattle wintered on silage, or on a ration 
of which silage is a part, will not do well on grass the following sum- 
mer. | 
OBJECTS AND PLAN OF THE WORK. 
The experiments as a whole had the following general problems in view: 
To ascertain the effect of different wintering rations on subsequent pasture 
alns. 
2 To determine the most satisfactory and economical method of wintering. 
To determine the best method and the cost of raising beef cattle in West 
Virginia. 
Two distinct phases of the problems presented themselves for solu- 
tion: First, the keeping of grade beef cows to raise calves; second, 
the wintering of calves, yearlings, and 2-year-olds that are to be 
pastured the following summer and sold as stockers, feeders, or fat 
cattle. This bulletin takes up the work with 2-year-olds. The re- 
sults of the work with cows, calves, and yearlings are published in 
United States Department of Agriculture Bulletins 1024, 1042, and 
870, respectively. 
