18 
BULLETIN 870, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
greater gains made by the silage-fed lots. Steers from all lots were 
to be carried over and finished the following year; hence, no actual 
selling price is given. Had these increased gains been taken into 
consideration in estimating the value, the added profit per steer -for 
the lots fed silage and cottonseed meal would have been even greater 
than the amounts shown in Table 10. In this table, as in all others, 
the steers of Lot 2, fed corn silage, wheat straw, and cottonseed meal, 
appear to best advantage, for they returned a profit of $19.72 per 
steer as compared with $17.86 for Lot 1 and $14.42 for Lot 3. Lots 
4 and 5 were included in the table, but in the comparisons and con- 
clusions drawn they are not considered, as they were carried only one 
year. 
VALUE OF SILAGE IN THE RATIONS. 
In Table 11 the added value per steer to be gained by the use of 
corn silage and also of cottonseed meal in the rations is shown. 
Since most of the cattle wintered in West Virginia and neighboring 
States are carried through on dry feed, the steers fed mixed hay and 
wheat straw were used as a basis from which to make comparisons 
and those feeds were considered a check ration. 
The increased value of the steer in the spring over the fall value 
depends very largely upon the method of wintering, as is shown in 
Table 8, being from $1.40 to $2.85 per hundredweight. When the 
better methods are used the increase based upon the cost of winter- 
ing will be on the average about $2 per hundredweight, which is the 
figure used in making these calculations. 
Table 11.— Summary showing value of silage rations as compared with hay and straw 
(check ration). 
Ration. 
Average 
yearly 
gain per 
steer. 
Increased 
gain per 
steer 
over 
steers 
fed 
check 
ration. 
Value of 
increase 
in gain 
per 
steer. 
Average 
yearly 
cost of 
feed 
and 
pasture 
per 
steer. 
Decrease 
in cost 
of ration 
as 
compared 
with 
check 
ration. 
Increased 
value of 
ration per 
steer as 
compared 
with 
check 
ration. 
Pounds. 
274 
316 
267 
292 
324 
Pounds. 
$23.57 
22.69 
21.76 
23.82 
22.22 
Corn silage, mixed hay, and wheat straw.. 
42 
7 
18 
50 
$3.73 
1-.62 
1.60 
4.44 
$0.88 
1.81 
2-. 25 
1.35 
$4.61 
1.19 
Corn silage, rye hay, and cottonseed meal. . 
Corn silage, wheat straw, and cottonseed 
1.35 
5.79 
Decrease. 
2 Increase. 
The addition of corn silage to the dry-feed ration resulted in an 
increase of 42 pounds in the yearly gain of each steer as compared 
with the check ration, and the substitution of cottonseed meal and 
corn silage in place of mixed hay produced an increase of 50 pounds 
of gain per steer. At the estimated value — $2 margin above the 
initial cost per hundredweight — these additional gains would be 
