14 BULLETIN 628, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The actual increased " worth " or value in the spring of one lot 
of steers over another depends on how they put on gains the follow- 
ing summer. This will be discussed in Part III of this bulletin. 
The value of silage as a winter feed for stocker cattle in moun- 
tainous sections is shown by these experiments. A very limited 
portion of the land can be used for raising crops^ and as silage crops 
make a large tonnage of good feed per acre they will be especially 
valuable under such conditions. 
The results show most conclusively the great importance of pre- 
pared meadows or winter pastures for wintering beef cattle. A 
smaller acreage of pasture was required for wintering a steer than 
for summer grazing the same steer. In all these experiments, during 
no winter was more than 2 acres required to winter a steer, and the 
average amount for the three years was about 1.8 acres. During the 
summer from 2 to 3 acres were required per steer. 
The enormous areas of cut-over mountain lands and lands on 
which there is timber of practically no value, but which are adapted 
for cattle grazing can be made a source of a large income and profit 
without undue or unjustifiable expenditure of money if put into 
good, permanent pasture. These lands not only furnish excellent 
winter grazing, but make pastures that are equaled by few in any 
other part of the United States for fattening cattle during the sum- 
mer months. This will be presented in Part III of this bulletin, 
which deals with summer fattening of cattle. The farmer who 
owns mountain land that has been cut over or is partly covered with 
timber of little value is overlooking a good opportunity to make 
money by not converting such lands into good permanent pastures. 
II. WINTER GRAZING OF STEERS. 
The chief problem in most of the grazing counties in the moun- 
tainous areas is the furnishing of sufficient feed to winter stock cattle 
in a satisfactory mamier. Most stock raisers can graze more cattle 
in summer than they can winter in good condition. One object of this 
work, therefore, was to determine some method of wintering cattle 
that would make possible the maintenance of a greater number dur- 
ing the winter months. 
The winter-grazing work proved so profitable and satisfactory 
from every viewpoint that it is given special consideration. The pos- 
sibilities of using mountain land for winter pasture, the methods of 
establishing the pastures, and the results obtained from them are 
discussed below. The report of the results includes the total and 
daily gains of all the winter-grazed cattle during the three years, the 
cost of wintering, fall and spring values, and a summary of the 
whole work. By grouping these facts a more significant idea can be 
