FEEDING OF BEEF COWS IN THE CORN BELT. 11 
units less feed, their winter-feed bill was $16.53. In the next group. 
21 farms, silage constituted one-half of the ration, the cows receiving 
an average of 2.75 tons each. As only one- fourth of this ration was 
composed of the cheaper roughage, the average feed bill for these 
cows was $17 although they received 400 feed units less than did 
the cows in the first group. It is evident that on the farms in this 
third group silage was replacing too largely the cheaper farm by- 
products. 
STUDY OF RATIONS ON SELECTED FARMS. 
It is evident from the foregoing that in the corn-belt States many 
of the farmers who are producing their own feeder cattle need to 
give more consideration to the rations that are being fed. If farmers 
will take more pains to find out the nutritive requirements of their 
stock and will then plan rations that shall be as economical as possi- 
ble and at the same time adequate, many of them can lower greatly 
the cost of their winter feed bills. 
To show the possibilities of cheapening some of these rations, five 
farms have been selected, that their winter feeding system may be 
studied in detail. The farms chosen are representative of feeding 
practices found in vogue in different places throughout the region 
covered by the survey. On four of these farms the cows were receiv- 
ing more feed than they needed, and doubtless on at least three of 
them the feed was not utilized fully. However, care has been taken 
not to select any farms of the extreme type. There is only one that 
was feeding in excees of 3,000 feed units per head during the winter 
season. 
In the discussion of the rations used on these farms, no attempt is 
made to indicate a ration that shall be fully balanced or that shall 
be even the most economical. Nor has any study been made to 
determine whether the rations contain enough minerals for the ani- 
mals, though generally in the rations outlined there will be a suffi- 
cient quantity of these. The suggested changes have been confined 
to showing that many farm rations can be modified easily in such a 
manner as to save expense. 
FARM NO. 1. 
The first of these five farms is in east-central Iowa. It contains 
240 acres, of which, for the year studied, 80 acres were in corn, 35 in 
oats, 50 in clover, and 60 in pasture. The breeding herd consisted 
of a grade bull and 22 grade cows from which 20 calves were ob- 
tained. The cows were given excessive amounts of high-priced 
feed for both of the years during which records were procured. 
