The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1898-04-14
Sugar Beet a. Food for Live stock.

Indiana Experiment Station: Num-
erous letters have been sent the In
diana experiment station this fall, re-
questing information concerning the
sugar beet as a food for farm live
stock, and it's feeding value. This In
Quiry is no doubt mainly caused by the
greatly increased interest in sugar beet
culture by farmers at the present time,
and this bulletin Is intended 10, IN
a measure, answer the inquiry. The
beet contains considerable less nutri-
ment than IL standard coarse fodders
100 pounds of beets containing some
thing over a pound of digestible muscle
making food, while red clover contains
about six and one-half pounds, and
Timothy hay nearly three pounds. Inc
value Of beets as a food, however,
largely lies in their influence on the
digestive organs at a time of year when
stock is usually fed only dry food. The
almost universal report from practical
feeders Il experimenters is, that
roots are valuable as winter food for
stock, and sugar beets take a leading
place among the roots in this respect.
They contain more nutriment than
mangels, carrots, r%utabagas and COM
mon turnips. Their sugary nature
makes them especially %palatable. Fol
sheep or mich cows no better roots
can be fed. They keep the bowels open
and tend to prevent impaction with cat
tie and sheep and give a gloss to the
coat and condition to the skin not Sc
cured by dry feed. One can hardly
measure the money value Of roots by
their chemical composition. For many
years they have had a 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
at about So to $3.50 a ton for stock
food, but the matter Of price varies
slightly according to circumstances. In
FEEDING experiments conducted in the
United States with sugar beets, these
roots have been fed in connection with
other foods. At this station, beets have
invariably been fed to advantage. n
we have used sugar beets for years for
cattle and sheep. At the Ohio station,
where corn silage and field beets have
been compared in feeding dairy cattle,
the beets have caused the best gains in
weight of cows, size of milk flow and
production of butter fat. The sugar
beet has no quality injurious to the
milk, when fed dairy cattle, while tur-
nips, unless fed with considerable care,
will give an Objectionable flavor to 1t.
The beets can be fed to best advantage
after slicing or running through a root
cutter, and fifty pounds per head for
average cattle with other foods is an
ample quantity. Now that beet sugar
factories are being erected in this
country, there will be considerable
refuse beet pulp, which is regarded as
a valuable food. At the Lehi, Utah,
factory a feeding company has con-
tracted for all the pulp for a term OF
years, and feeds in sheds near the fac
tory. 1t is said that the cattle eat from
100 to 1875 pounds Of pulp per day, be-
sides about fifteen pounds of hay.
Analyses by the California experiment
station show beet pulp to contain
nearly as much protein as corn silage,
and somewhat less of the other food
ingredients, and the feeding value is
estimated at $2.02 per ton, while corr
silase is placed at 1922 per ton. Beef
pulp is entirely suited to the silo, and
in the vicinity of beet factories, it is
kept ensiled. In the future growth Of
the beet sugar industry in America
the residue of pulp will be regarded as
an important addition to the feeding
rations of the live stock of the neigh
borhood. Other roots can be grown
more cheaply than sugar beets, but
where the latter are grown, they may
be fed to stock to great advantage.
c. S. Plumb. Director.