BULLETIN 1042, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
having similar conditions, as shown in figure 1. Some of the methods 
and results may be utilized to advantage by cattle feeders in other 
parts of the country. 
THE REGION AND ITS PROBLEMS. 
The topography in most parts of the region, except in the vicinity 
of streams, is gently rolling or even mountainous in the higher 
elevations. The region is generally cleared of forest trees, although 
vast areas of cut-over or stump land are found. The farms vary in 
size from less than 100 acres to more than 1,000 acres. The land is 
especially adapted for grazing purposes. In most sections there is 
tillable land for the production 
of abundant crops for winter feed 
or other purposes. 
It is in this general area that 
a large percentage of the grass- 
finished cattle which go annually 
to eastern markets are produced. 
The fact that most of the steers 
raised in this area are finished 
for market from grass alone at- 
tests the value of the pastures, 
which consist largely of blue grass. 
The use of grain for finishing 
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 larger num- 
ber of farmers who handle beef 
cattle grow either stockers and 
feeders or finish cattle for market 
from grass alone. It therefore becomes one of the principal beef-pro- 
duction problems in this general area 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, the time when the cheapest gains are made. A common 
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 a way that causes them to lose materially in weight. 
They are then pastured the following summer and sold from grass 
either as stockers or feeders or as finished steers for the market. 
There are some who hold the idea that it is profitable to permit this 
loss of weight, which with older steers often amounts to from 25 to 
100 pounds. Others believe that cattle wintered on silage, or on a 
Fig. 1. — Map showing region to which 
this work applies. The black dot indi- 
cates the location of the farm on which 
the experiment was conducted. The 
shaded portion represents the area to 
which the results are applicable, and 
the dotted portion shows an additional 
area to which the results apply in part. 
