Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-02-13

silage for beef production. The pro-
duction of beef for the last few years
has been rather discouraging, as
prices are low and feed stuffs are
comparatively high, so that the pro-
Queer of beef has made but little
money, but on all Wisconsin, farms
the grains and grasses shcEid be fed
to live stock, as we can market the
crops in more concentrated form
and retain more Of the fertility on the
farm by so doing.
We are not all dairymen or sheep
men and we all like good, juicy
beefsteak and some one will have to
raise the beef. To make money out
of any article placed on the market,
we must produce a good article and
do 1t as cheaply as possible. therefore
we should look to what our feed costs
US.
Some Of the Elements that Enter in.
to Beef Production.
To make beef cheaply, we must
have the right kind of animals 20 feed
and the right kind of feed to develop
them. They should be put on the
market young, as it costs less to
make pound of gain on the young
animal. Then keep them growing
from birth to the day they are mar
keted By feeding the right kind of
feeds that will produce growth and
fat. Where corn can be grown sue
cessfullyS it is cur cheapest fat pro-
Queer. Having grown our corn crop,
how can We save it so that we can
realize the most from it?
contend (and all of you that have
silos will bear me out in this) that
we can harvest our corn crop and
place it before our stock cheaper in
the form Of silage than in any other
way and with less waste, as it is all
consumed. For beef production we
want silage that is rich in corn.
DO not plant it too close in the drill,
about inches is right, so that every
stalk will have good ear on it. Put
It IN the silo at the proper time and
you have an ideal food for growing
calves, young cattle and fattening
steers.
DO not misunderstood me and go
away from here with the idea that
good corn silage is all you need to
make a success of beef production.
AS soon as the calf will eat coarse
feed, feed him what silage he will eat
up clean twice a day, with whole oats
and clover hay. .,e usually put our
steers on the market as two-year-olds
The first winter they get silage, what
they will eat twice day, with
ground oats and barley or oats and
corn (two-thirds oats anu one-third
corn) clover hay and shredded corn
fodder Feed until pasture is good.
The next fall commence to feed be-
fore pastures begin to fail Bring
them to fall feed gradually. In fat
tening, remember you cannot fatten
on silage alone, no matter how well
cared the corn is, you must have
more corn We feed about like this.
In the morning, 35 to so pounds OF
silage and a good painful of ground
oats and barley, or oats and corn, or
bran and corn, or shorts and corn;
about 10 o'clock they have what
shock corn they will eat. Their
managers are also filed with clover
hay. At night, they get the same
feed of silage with the oats and bar
ley. etc. After this is eaten, they
get crushed or snapped corn, what
they want, little oil meal is also
beneficial After they are on full feed
we generally feed them from 100 to
120 days.
The trouble with Us farmers Is, we
cannot tell by actual figures just
what is gained by the use of silage In
producing beef. as we do not weigh
the animals nor the feed consumed;
the only way we can judge is from
one year to another. AS we have fed
steers on dry feed, on whole corn
and on ground corn and with silage,
II will say have never had as
good success as when l fed silage in
conjunction with the other feeds men
toned. We allow the steers to run
in a yard and feed in the barn, where
they can go in and out as they please,
with fresh water and salt always be-
fore them.
Results OF Experiment Station Ex-
periments.
Some OF the experiment stations
have been experimenting Of late on
silage for beef. will not detain
you long with these experiments,
simply giving you one from the Kan
sas Experiment Station. Bulletin No.
124. 1 will take only two lots from
this experiment Each lot were two
years old, weighing about 1,0OO
pounds each live weight. One lot
was fed silage, alfalfa, corn and
kafir corn; the other lot had alfalfa,
corn and kafir corn. l will not give
the experiment In detail but a sum
mary OF it.
These steers were fed in three
periods each Of 20 days duration, max
ing 21o days. Prof Otis says:
In the grain column 1t will be
noticed that the silage steers required
large amount OF grain per 100