WINTER RATIONS OF YEARLING STEERS. 
15 
Per ton. 
Corn silage $6 
Mixed hay 18 
Rye hay 18 
Soy-bean hay 17 
Wheat straw 7 
Cottonseed meal 50 
The foregoing averages were made from figures taken from the 
Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, and are 
the average farm prices in the States of West Virginia, Virginia, 
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Caro- 
lina, and parts of other adjacent States, to which this work is most 
applicable. 
An attempt is made to show the comparative cost of the different 
rations for the benefit of those who desire information on this phase 
of the subject. If the prices of feeds in any locality are different 
from the prices used in these calculations, it is suggested that they 
be substituted and the following calculations used as a guide, using, 
as the basis of calculation, the total amounts of the different feeds 
consumed per steer as shown in the first section of Table 4. 
Table 8 shows the rations fed, the gain or loss in weight per steer 
during the winter, the fall cost per hundredweight, the cost of feed- 
ing each steer through the winter, and the advance in spring value 
over fall cost of steers per hundredweight. 
Table 8.— Summary of rations, costs, and results. 
Lot 
No. 
Ration. 
Year. 
Gain(+) 
or 
loss ( — ) 
in 
weight 
per 
steer. 
Initial 
value 
per 
hun- 
dred- 
weight. 
Cost to 
winter 
each 
steer. 
Value in 
spring 
per 
hun- 
dred- 
weight. 
Ad- 
vance in 
spring 
value 
over 
initial 
value 
per 
hun- 
dred- 
weight. 
1 
Corn silage, mixed hay, and wheat 
straw. 
1914-15 
1915-16 
1916-17 
Pounds. 
-23 
00 
+19 
$6.50 
6.50 
7.00 
$13. 71 
13.74 
16.03 
$9.04 
8.52 
9.07 
$2.54 
2.02 
2.07 
- 1 
6.67 
14.49 
8.88 
2.2 
Corn silage, wheat straw, and cotton- 
seed meal. 
Average 
1914-15 
1915-16 
1916-17 
1917-18 
2 
+74 
+80 
+52 
+40 
6.50 
6.50 
7.00 
7.50 
14.47 
14.34 
14.60 
13.88 
7.89 
7.70 
8.48 
9.03 
1.39 
1.20 
1.48 
1.53 
+ 62 
6.88 
14.32 
8.28 
1.40 
3 
1914-15 
191.5-16 
1916-17 
1917-18 
-46 
- 7 
-30 
-56 
6.50 
6.50 
7.00 
7.50 
13.62 
15.03 
16.74 
17.30 
9.38 
8.81 
9.72 
11.00 
2.88 
2.31 
2.72 
3.50 
4 
5 
Average 
-35 
6.88 
15.67 
9.73 
2.85 
Corn silage and soy-bean hay 
1917-18 
1917-18 
+ 27 
7.50 
14.76 
9. 32 1. 82 
Corn silage, rye hay, and cottonseed 
meal. 
+ 11 
7.50 
16.82 
9. 84 J 2. 34 
Xotk —The length of the feeding period varied somewhat from year to year, depending on the condition 
of the pastures in the early spring. The steers were fed 128 days during the winter of 1914-15, 122 days in 
1915-16, 134 days in 1916-17, and 133 days in 1917-18. 
