The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1900-10-18
RATION FOR STEER AND PIC.
Cheapest Method of Fattening Them
For Market.

Cheapest Method of Fattening Them
For Market.
A. B. C.--Dssr Sir: / am. in receipt of
your letter asking for ration for fatten.
ing steers for market, also a ration for
pigs. / will answer these questions and
wind UP the subject of stock-feeding
with this letter. The same rations we
have already calculated for dairy COW
Will also answer well fuA Iattenine
stsers, but as the purpose FOR fatteninga
steer is to produce beef as cheap1y as
possible for market, we can't afford to
use the more dainty and varied diet
given to the cow, but Will settle on the
cheapest ration we can find to do the
work, and this ration is cotton seed meal
and hulls and water. The ration con.
slsts OF twenty pounds of hulls and six
pounds OF cotton seed meal gradually
increased to twenty-four pounds of bulls
and eight pounds of @. S. meal per ,00o
pounds of live weight, or the rations
may be mixed in the above proportions.
and the cattle allowed to eat all they
Will. Now. if you will take the trouble
to figure out the digestible protein, and
carbohydrates in these rations with the
aid of the tables you already have, and
In the manner previously indicated you
Will find they are not nearly so scientific
and well-balanced as those given YOU fol-
the dairy COW, but still they answer the
purpose well because of their cheapness
and ready accessibility, and as l indi
Gated before the money cost of the diff
ferent feed stutfs must govern to GER
tain extent in preparing a ration if you
have some surplus corn on the farm
which you don't have to buy, the ration
would be made more efficient by adding
1t thus: "a pounds of hulls, six pounds
OF cotton seed meal, and four pounds OF
corn meal or corn and cob meal.
In regard to your query for good
ration for your pigs. find that the
Massachusetts Experiment. Station rec.
ommends the following: For pigs weigh
ing 20 to 70 pounds, 2 ounces of corn
meal per quart of skim milk; pigs weigh.
ing 70 TO 100 pounds, or. of corn meal
per quart of skim milk; pigs weighing
13O to goo pounds, 6 or. of corn meal per
quart Of skim milk-butter milk will
answer as well as skim milk. Give
them all they will eat up clean; but on
no account ever give your hogs cotton
seed or cotton seed meal. Experiments
at the Mississippi and Texas Stations
both show that they are apt to prove IA
tai to pigs and hogs.
In your letter you speak of reading
somewhere about the "nutritive ratio"
OF ration or food and ask for an ex
PLANTATION OF the term, and also of the
term fuel value" as applied to food.
The nutritive ratio of a food or ration is
the relative proportion existing between
the digestible protein and the digestible
fat and Carbohydrates in the substance.
In order to find the nutritiye ratio. use
this rule: Multiply the digestible fat in
the substance by III, and add this pro-
duct to the digestible carbohydrates in
the substance. Then divide this sum
by the digestible protein in the sub
stance. The result will be the nutritiye
ratio. Thus, for example, let us calcu-
late the nutritive ratio Of cotton seed
meal Turn back to your table you find
G. S. meal contains 1888 per cent. di-
gestible fat, multiplying this by 2.25 you
have $780, add to this 1859 the Der,
centage digestible carbohydrates found
in the table for cotton seed meal and YOU
have a. 81, Divide this by 1901, the
percentage of digestible protein, and YOU
get TX Therefore the nutritive ratio
OF cotton seed meal is as to liz, or as it |
is often written, 1:l.2. In like manner
calculate the nutritive ratio of corn
meal, you will find it to be as L to 10. "a
or lI0.34. Therefore cotton seed meal
Is said to have marrow" nutritive "a !
ton because there is so little difference or
such narrowNmargin between the pro- !
portion of dgestible fat and carbohy-
drates added together and the percentage
OF digestible protein On the other
hand corn meal is said to have "wide"
nutrltive ration, because there is a wide
difference between the two in corn meal.
You can IN the same way, calculate the |
pntritive ratio, in any of the different
rations we have figured out. If in a ra-
ton you find the nutritive ratio to be a |
good deal more than lie you would call
that wide ration" if a good deal less
than l;6 you would call it narrow "a
ton.
Only few natural feeds conform
closely to tho standards given for the
various purposes of feeding. The hays,
grasses and other coarse products of the
farm mostly show very wide nutritive
ratio, and they are only adapted for the