WINTER RATIONS OF YEARLING STEERS. 13 
There are some very noticeable differences in the gains made by the 
different lots during the first 28 days of the pasture season. With one 
exception all lots in each trial took on weight. The steers of Lot 3 
during this first period of the spring of 1917 actually lost 2 pounds 
per head while on grass. There is no apparent explanation for this 
loss, in view of the fact that both Lots 1 and 2 made gains during this 
same month. Since all the steers were in the same pasture and 
received the same treatment, no satisfactory reason for the loss by the 
steers of this one lot can be advanced. 
As would be expected, the cattle which had been fed on a ration 
that caused them to lose weight during the winter made the greatest 
gains during this first month on pasture. The steers which had been 
fed on a ration of corn silage, cottonseed meal, and wheat straw and 
which made a steady gain throughout the winter did not make so 
large a gain from grass during this first period as did the steers of Lot 
3, which lost weight in the winter. 
The greatest gains from pasture were made by the steers of Lot 1, 
although the difference between this lot and Lot 3 is so slight as to be 
almost negligible. While the summer gains of the steers of Lot 2, fed 
silage, cottonseed meal, and straw, were not so large as those of the 
other two lots, the total of both winter and summer gains shows an 
increase of 49 pounds over the gain made by the steers fed mixed hay 
and wheat straw and 14 pounds over those fed corn silage, mixed hay, 
and wheat straw. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
1. An average daily ration of 19.8 pounds of corn silage, 5 pounds 
of mixed hay, and 2.5 pounds of wheat straw fed to average good 
steers weighing 663 pounds (Lot 1) for 130 days during the winter 
should maintain them without a loss in weight. 
2. An average daily ration of 23.1 pounds of corn silage, 4.9 pounds 
of wheat straw, and 1 pound of cottonseed meal fed to average good 
steers weighing 664 pounds (Lot 2) for 130 days during the winter 
should maintain their weight and allow an average gain of 62 pounds 
per steer. 
3. An average daily ration of 11.9 pounds of mixed hay and 4.1 
pounds of wheat straw fed to average good steers weighing 665 pounds 
(Lot 3) for 130 days during the winter will not maintain their weight 
but will result in an average loss of weight of approximately 35 
pounds. 
4. The steers in Lot 2 receiving a protein concentrate in the ration 
did not lose weight as did Lots 1 and 3 (fig. 5) . 
5. The steers receiving corn silage as a part of their ration (Lots 1 
and 2, Table 7) made greater total gains for the year than those 
receiving rations of dry roughage alone. 
