Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1902-12-29

In tic latter part of October, 1900,
t Kansas experiment station put
into the iced lots 1870 head of calves
that had jUst been weancd. They
v ere divided into lots, to test the val
g OF alfalfa hay. prairie hay, corn,
l[atir corn and soy beans III the pro
,iuction al baby beef.
Sixty head OF heifers were pur'
chased in the Kansas City stock
Yards. weighed an average of AIS
pounds each. cost S4.25 per hundred
weight at the yards, and cost an aV-
| erage of $1S.25 per head delivered III
the college feed lots. These were
range calves-grade Shorthorn. Here
ford and Angus Fifty head were
/ purchased OF farmers near Manhat-
tan. and had been sept with their
! dams through the summer In smaH
| pastures. Twenty lead were mixed
! bred calves that had been purchased
around Manhattan when born, ana
had been raised by the college by
| hand, ten being raised on creamery
| skim milk and ten on whole milk
! The calves were vaccinated to pre-
vent blackleg. Without this safeguard
| we would not have dared to under
| take this experiment.
The calves were fed seven months
| 1T the close of the experiment. May
81. the entire lot averaged 500
pounds per head in the college feed
lots. The shrinkage in shipping to
| Kansas City was 3 per cent. Thirty
two steers averaged S3S pounds and
sold at $40 per 100 pounds, seventy
four heifers averaged 758 pounds and
sold for $535. and eighteen heifers
averaged TAI pounds and sold for
s5.15. Six head of heifers went as
springers.
| The packing company which
slaughtered the calves made the fol-
lowing report:
80 steer calves-Live weight. S3S
pounds; dressed weight 4S0 pounds;
tallow, 50 pounds; dressed weight.
57.2 per cent; tallow, 6.1 per cent.
"a heifer calves-Live weight 1853
pounds; dressed weight 432 pounds;
tallow. 40 pounds; dressed, weight,
per cent; tallow, 63 per cent.
1S heifer calves-Live weight. 74f
pounds; dressed weight. 42O pounds;
tallow, 40 pounds; dressed weight,
o6.6 per cent; tallow, &C per cent.
The calves were fed twice daily,
| beginning at a. M and at 430 p. IN.
| The lots We're fed in the sam order
each time and exactly at the same
time each day. The hours OF feeding
We're arranged SO that the calves did
all the work of eating in daylight.
i Each lot was given at each feeding all
the grain and rOughaee it would eat
up clean within three hours after
feeding In each lot the grain was
fed mixed with tie roughage and the
roughage was fed whole. Fine barrel
salt was kept in boxes under the
sheds. where the calves he'd free &C.
cess at all times. i1aca lot Of calves
was sheltered with common board
shed, closed on tie north, open to the
south.
Water was supplied in tanks reg
uated by float valves Sc that the
! tanks were kept full and the calves
could drink at Will. From December
2 to April / tank heater was kept
going in each tank and the water
was kept at temperature of about
fifty degrees.
This showed an average cOnsump-
tion of 1873 pounds Of coal daily per
tank With coal at 81 per ton, this
would make the daily cost of warm
ing tank small fraction over 3
| cents per day. A heater will warm
water for forty head apparently as
cheaply as for five or ten head. We
found the previous winter that it re-
quired no more labor to keep tank
heater running than it did to keep
the ice out of a tank not heated. We
would urge every feeder to use tank
heater. A successful feeder of long
experience recently made the state
ment that gains in feeding follow
very closely the amount of water
drank by the fattening animal; the
| larger the quantity of water drank
the greater the gains, provided there
! is no unnatural stimulation to drink.
ing. With clean, palatable water,
free from ice, kept where the animal
can drink at will. the animal drinks
often, and each twenty-four hours
consumes a large quantity, but at no
| time is the stomach overloaded or un-
duly chilled. The cost Of using =
! tank heater is trifling and the returns
are good.
The remarkable feature of this ex.
| pertinent was the small amount of
grain required to make 100 pounds OF
| gain. The skim milk calves fed al.
falfa hay and corn averaged 100
pounds of gain for only 439 pounds of
| corn, and this in seven months feed
! ing The other lots fed alfalfa and
corn required 470 pounds of corn for
| 100 pounds of gain.