ration will result in an improvement in the rate of gain and the dressing percentage, will decrease the cost of the gain, and give better finished steers.

The value of silage for fattening steers has been demonstrated by the results of experiments at a number of our stations.15 In experiments at the Indiana station four lots of steers were fed for 160 days on rations composed of shelled corn, cotton-seed meal, and clover hay, three of the lots receiving corn silage in addition, viz., on the average, 16.0, 27.4, and 24.8 pounds per head daily. The lot receiving shelled corn, cotton-seed meal, and silage yielded an average profit of $20.96 per steer; the two lots receiving shelled corn, cotton-seed meal, clover hay, and silage yielded $10.51 and $13.59, and the fourth lot, receiving shelled corn, cotton-seed meal, and clover hay, yielded a profit of $3.37 per head.

If the value of the pork produced from the droppings and the extra corn fed the hogs be included, the profit from the three lots fed silage came as follows: $26.21, $17.09. and $19.43 per head, in the order given, and that without silage, $8.24 per head. Trials at other stations have shown that a ration of corn, cotton-seed meal, and corn silage will give equally good results in every respect for fattening steers, as corn, cotton-seed meal, and clover or alfalfa hay. The testimony of experiments with silage is roots for fattening steers conducted in Canada16 and in England is also decidedly in favor of silage.

“ An acre of corn preserved in the silo will, on the average, produce 20-25 per cent more beef or mutton than will the same area of corn preserved in the ordinary way."lia Silage is especially valuable on stock farms in times of short pastures. A silo for making summer silage is as good an investment for beef production as it is on dairy farms (p. 97). Another important usage of silage that has developed recently is for wintering beef breeding cows and fattening cattle in general, this being fed as exclusive roughage with a pound or two of cotton-seed meal. Cattle will keep in good thrifty condition and may even make slight gains on 60 pounds of Indian corn silage and 1 pound of cotton-seed meal per head daily.17b

Concentrates. The use of concentrates in feeding fattening

15 Mo. Bul. 112; Miss. Bul. 167; Neb. Bul. 132, 161, 163; N. C. Bul. 222; Penn, Bul. 118; Ind. Bul. 116, 136, 163, 167; Va. Bul. 157, 173; Ill. Bul. 73; Ohio Bul. 193, 178; la. ('ir. 6; S. D. Bul. 137, 160, 182; Texas Bul. 159; Wyo, Bul. 108; Miss. Bul. 182.

1" Ontario Agricultural College Reports, 1891, 1901, 1902.

17 Summaries of 201 trials quoted by Henry, " Feeds and Feeding." 10th ed., p. 358.

ira Mumford in Proc. Asso. Am. Agr. Colleges, 1914, p. 226; see also Kan. Bul. 198; S. D. Bul. 148.

17h Penna. Bul. 133; Br. Gaz. 1917, p. 375.

steers will appear from the discussions of different systems of feeding beef cattle given below. It will be noted that there are wide variations in the amounts and kinds of different grain feeds fed under different conditions. Beef cattle are finished for the market on roughage alone (blue-grass pasture, alfalfa, or alfalfa and beet pulp) in eastern and western States, respectively, and in the corn belt as much as 24 pounds of grain is often fed per day to fattening steers in full feed. The concentrates fed to fattening steers are, in general, similar to those fed dairy cows, but the feeding

Fig. 62.-Steer feeding barns and feeding troughs on a California cattle ranch. (See also

Fig. 31.) (Pacific Rural Press.) of Indian corn predominates, being of far greater importance for this purpose than all other grain feeds combined. It is the great fattening feed of America, and, on account of its high starch and oil contents and high digestibility, may be considered the most important factor in both beef and pork production in this country. Corn is fed to fattening steers in the majority of cases as snapped (unhusked) or husked ear corn, or as whole shelled corn. It is crushed, ground, or soaked only in exceptional cases, viz., when very dry and hard on account of having been stored long in the crib. Being only medium or low protein, it is supplemented to advantage in feeding steers with legume hay, or some high-protein feed, like linseed meal or cotton-seed meal, which is fed two to three pounds a day during the last sixty days of the fattening period (Figs. 62 and 63).

Use of Self-feeder.-A self-feeder is a labor-saving device for feeding grain feeds to stock (Fig. 64). It consists of a feed box that holds a considerable quantity of grain or other concentrates; the feed passes from the box into the feed trough below as this is emptied by the cattle, and the supply has only to be replenished at inter

vals. It may also be used for feeding steers a mixture of grain feeds, or cut hay mixed with grain. The self-feeder is used by cattle men in different localities with varying success; no automatic system of feeding cattle or other animals can, however, give the best results for any length of time, for "the eye of the master fattens

FIG. 64. The self-feeder is used by many farmers in the corn belt States for feeding corn or grain mixtures to fattening steers. Hogs are generally kept with the steers. (Breeders' Gazette.)

his cattle," and the self-feeder can only be looked upon as an aid in economizing skilled labor in feeding operations. Cattle men have reported both success and failure with self-feeders. It appears that, on the whole, they may serve a useful purpose if properly constructed1s and the cattle are put on a maximum grain feed 18 See Mumford, "Beef Production," p. 149.

slowly prior to being turned on to the self-feeder. An experienced Illinois cattle man gives as his opinion of the self-feeder that "it is more reliable than a careless man and more economical of labor than even a careful man.” Under favorable conditions, self-fed steers are likely to eat more grain and make larger gains than those fed by hand, but it requires slightly more feed to produce a given gain with the self-feeder. 19

The feeding of beef cattle will be considered under the following heads : Baby beef, yearlings, two-year-olds, and older cattle.

Fig. 65.-A Mississippi-raised "baby beef” calf. Note the wonderful thickness of flesh.

(Ward.)

Baby Beef.—The production of baby beef (Fig. 65) is followed mainly by feeders in the corn belt. It has several advantages over feeding of older cattle; there is always a good market demand at high prices for this class of steers, weighing 1000 to 1200 pounds at an age of 16 to 18 months, and the feeder receives quick returns for his investment. Baby beeves are likely to dress somewhat lower than older cattle, but they furnish more valuable meat and have less inedible fat than the others, and have no coarseness about the neck, brisket, and chuck. To offset these advantages, it requires a higher grade of cattle and more skill and care on the part of the feeder to produce baby beef, and there is a greater chance for

accidents through sickness, like indigestion and blackleg, than in feeding older cattle. The production of baby beef has, however, become of great importance of late years, especially in central and eastern States, and it seems evident that cattle raising on highpriced land will gradually change, to a large extent, to fattening of young stock, yearlings, and two-year-olds, for the market, instead of three- or four-year-olds, as was the common practice up to recent times.

In order to make satisfactory baby beef, calves must be of good beef type, low set and blocky, from a pure-bred bull of one of the early-maturing beef breeds (Fig. 66). Such a bull will sire a high

percentage of excellent beef calves from good grade cows, but it is not likely that calves from scrub or dairy cows can be fattened into sufficiently ripe carcasses at the age required. Calves fed for baby beef must be kept steadily gaining until they are ready for the market. They generally receive their dam's milk until weaning time, and are fed grain as soon as they learn to eat it; whole corn and oats in the proportion of 3 to 1, with some pea-size linseed meal, will make a very satisfactory grain mixture for calves, and with a good grade of hay or pasture will produce excellent gains. After weaning, they are gradually brought on to full feed and receive the mixture given, with some wheat bran or similar protein feed. A little cornstalks may be also fed to advantage. Baby beef calves dropped in the spring are rarely ready for market until July of the following year; they are generally marketed during the last months