The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-11-26
Purdue University Experiment station,
l..r t.tt-

Purdue University experiment. station,
November l5 1897.
Numerous letters have been sent
the Indiana experiment station thisl
fall, requesting information con-
cernng the sugar beet as food for
farm live stock, and its teedingI
value. This inquiry is no doubt
mainly caused by the greatly in
creased interest in sugar beet cul
ture by farmers at the present time,
and this bulletin is intended to, inI
a measure, answer the inquiry.
The beet contains CONSIDERABLE
less nutriment than our standard
coarse folders, one hundred pounds
of beets containing something over
a pound OF digestible muscle max
ing food, while red clover contains
about six and one half pounds, and
Timothy hay nearly three pounds.
The value of beets as a food, how
ever, largely les in their influence
on the digestive organs at time of
year when stock is usually fed only
dry food. The almost universal re-
port from practical feeders and
experimenters, is, that roots are
valuable as winter food for stock,
and sugar bee.s take a leading place
among the roots in this respect.
They contain more nutriment than
mangels, carrots, rutabagas and
common turnips. Their sugary
nature makes them especially pala-
table. For sheep or milch cows no
better roots can be fed. They keep
: the bowels open and tend to pre-
vent impaction with cattle and sheep
and give a gloss to the coat and
) condition to the skin not secured by
} dry feed.
3 One can hardly measure the
money value of roots by their
chemical composition. For many
years they havehad high valuation
, in the esteem of British stockmen,
and are extensively grown in Europe
! for winter feeding. In the United
States, valuations have been placed
on beets of about 800 to 81 so g
ton for stock food, but the matter
of price varies slightly according to
circumstances.
e In feeding experiments conducted
in the United States with sugar
g beets, these roots have been fed il
connection with other foods. A
; this station, beets have invariably
been fed to advantage, and we bav'
: used sugar beets for years for cat
tie and sheep. AT the Ohio station
D where corn silage and field beets
$ have been compared in feeding dairy
: cattle, the beets have caused tb'
best gains in weight of cows, size
: of milk flow and production of but
ter fat.
; The sugar beet has no quality in
! furious to the milk, when fed dair,
! cattle, while turnips, ,nnless fed witt
considerable care, will give an OBJ
: jectionable flavor to it. The beet'
! can be fed to best advantage after
\ slicing or running through root
. cutter, and 80 lbs. per head TO
!. average cattle with other foods is al
ample quantity.
Now that beet suger factories ar,
II being erected in this country, there
b will be considerable refuse beet pulp
which is regarded as valuable food
n At the Lehi, Utah factory, feeding
!, company has contracted for all the
5 pulp for a term of years, and feed
in sheds near the factory. II Ii
said that the cattle eat from 100 tc
125 pounds Of pulp per day, beside
e about Is pounds of hay. Analyses
: by the California experiment station
. show beet pulp to contain nearly a
y much protein as corn silage, am
y somewhat less of the other food in
!. gradients, and the feeding value i
G estimated at $2.02 per ton, Will
J. corn silage is placed at 1872 pc
: ton.
: Beet pulp is entirely suited to tn
= silo, and in the vicinity of bee
e sugar factories, it is kept ensiled
+ In the future growth of the bee
0 sugar industry in America, the resi-
: due Of pulp will be regarded as a
J., l,,Iimportant addition to the feedin
q rations Of the live stock ofthe neigh
:, borhood.
u Other roots can be grown NOR
n cheaply than sugar beets, but wher
r the latter are grown, they may b
, fed to stock to great advantage.
: G.. S. PLUMB, Director.