INFLUENCE OF WINTER RATIONS ON THE GROWTH OF STEERS ON PASTURE. On December 22, 1914, the Animal Husbandry Division, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, began a series of beef-cattle experiments on the farm of David Tuckwiller, in Greenbrier County, W. Va., to study beefproduction problems in the Appalachian Mountain region. This farm is situated in the southeastern part of the State, in the bluegrass area. The results of this experiment apply not only to West Virginia, but, as a whole or in part, to the adjacent States in the Appalachian Mountain region, from Alabama on the south to New York on the north, that have similar conditions. Results of the first four years of the work are here briefly summarized, with the addition of several graphic figures. OBJECTS OF THE WORK. It has been a common practice in the area mentioned to winter steers on dry feed, such as hay, corn stover, and wheat straw, and on corn silage to a lesser extent, in a way that causes them to lose materially in weight. They are then pastured the following summer and sold from grass either as stockers or feeders or as finished steers for the market. There are some who hold to the idea that it is profitable to permit this loss of weight, which with older steers oftentimes amounts to from 25 to 100 pounds. There are others also who believe that cattle wintered on silage, or on a ration of which silage is a part, do not do well on grass the following summer. This experiment as outlined had these general problems in view: First, the effect of different wintering rations upon subsequent pasture gains. Second, the most satisfactory and economical method of wintering. Third, the best method and the cost of raising beef cattle in the Appalachian Mountain region. NOTE. Those interested in the details of this experiment should obtain Department Bulletin 870, from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Price, 5 cents. 30717°-21 3 |