The progressive farmer and the cotton plant., 1905-01-17
Live Stock and Dairy
CONDUCTED BY CHARLES WIN. BURKETT,
EXPERIMENTS I'm STEER FEEDING.

III lexis Agricultural Experiment STATION mas
now in press, and about ready for distribution,
Bulletin No. rs, prepared by John A. Craig and
F. r. Marshall, of the Department of Animal
Husbandry, on Experiments in Steer Feeding"
Among the results of two seasons work, with 11S
head of steers, are the following:
/. Rice bran added to a ration of cotton-seed
meal and hulls in two out of three trials gave an
increased rate of gain at a lower cost.
2. Rice polish added to a ration of cotton-seed
meal and hulls slightly increased the rate of gain
at the same cost.
3. Rice hulls were not satisfactory as a substi-
tute for cotton-seed hulls as the steers did not rel
ish them.
4. Rice hulls fed with cotton-seed meal, rice
bran and molasses were unsatisfactory as the
steers could not be induced to eat a fair ration.
5. Sorghum hay in a ration of cotton-seed meal
and rice bran gave equal results in gain to cotton
seed hulls, as one of the former results equal to
LOO pounds of cotton-seed hu1ls. The daily rate
of gain per head was slightly in favor of the hulls
being 2.9S pounds as against 2.35 pounds in the
instance of the sorghum.
6. Cowpea hay was not found as satisfactory as
cotton-seed hulls in a ration of rice bran and cot
ton-seed meal as the daily rate of gain per head
was 2.9S pounds in the instance of the lot receiv-
ing hulls and 2.3 pounds in the trial with cowpea
hay. A Found of cowpea hay was eaualled by "a
of a pound of hulls.
z. Peanut hay was very unsatisfactory fed with
rice bran and cotton-seed meal owing to the fact
that it was very nutritive food, being too similar
to cotton-seed meal in composition to mix well
with it.
8. Alfalfa hay was a very unsatisfactory addi-
ton to rice bran and cotton-seed meal ration for
the reason that it was also rich in those c%onstitu-
ents which are abundant in ootton-Seed nakino
the ration too heterogeneous.
9. Cotton-seed meal and hulls make the most
generally fed ration in the Cotton Belt, while corn
and alfalfa hay are considered the best combina-
ton In the Corn Belt. A comparison of these ra-
tions becomes interesting from these facts. The
steers receiving the ration of cotton-seed meal and
hulls ate daily per head 81 pounds of cotton-seed
meal and 22.4 pounds of hulls and gained 221
pounds. With the cotton-seed meal at $40 per
ton, the feed cost of one pound of gain was Acc.
The steers receiving the alfalfa and corn and cob
meal ate daily per head IL pounds of corn and cob
meal and 169. pounds of alfalfa and gained 2.53
pounds. With the corn and cob meal at 40 cents
per bushel, and the alfalfa at S. per ton, the feed
cost of one pound of gain was Ale. 1t will be
seen from this that the cost of fattening steers
under the very best circumstances for securing
the most economical rations is very similar.
10. Molasses added to a ration consisting of
cotton-seed meal and hulls resulted In a greater
and cheaper gain from those steers receiving
it as they gained 3.11 pounds Ger head daily while
those not receiving it gained 2.59 pounds.
II. Yearling steers in comparison with two-year-
old steers on rations of cotton-seed meal and huIls
made about the same gain at a little cheaper cost.
The two-year-old steers gained 2.59 pounds per
head daily and the yearlings 2.21 pounds.
II. In feeding steers ON pasture it was found
that a corn and cotton-seed ration gave better re-
turns than corn alone. The substitution of 3,075
pounds of cotton-seed meal for 3,438 pounds of