Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-02-19
BEST FEED FOR YOUNG STEERS.
Some Interesting Facts About Rough
ness and Its Value.
Ry Prof Fl r. Smith Nebraska
Agriculture College.

BY Prof. H. r. Smith, Nebraska
Agriculture College.
Three years ago a series of expert
ments were undertaken to compare the
efficiency of three forms of roughage:
alfalfa, prairie hay, and corn slower,
in the feeding of two-year-old steers
with corn.
In the last experiment the corn was
all fed as snapped corn rather than
shelled, and the period of feeding was
but three months, during which time
grain was used sparingly and rough
ness literally, the cattle being finished
in a second experiment in which heavy
grain rations We're used.
In the experiment with snapped
corn Cor husky the roughness in each
lot was as follows: Lot l, prairie hay;
Lot 2, prairie and alfalfa hay Lot 8,
alfalfa; Lot 4, corn slower (stalks with
out ears); Lot s, corn slower and al
falfa; and Lot 6, corn fodder (stalks
with ears attached) and alfalfa.
AS in the two former tests, ten steers
were fed in each lot and these were
selected to make the several lots as
uniform as possible. The steers were
two-year-old grade Shorthorns and
Herefords, from the northwestern part
Of the state, where they had been rear
ed under semi-range conditions.
The steers fe don snapped corn and
alfalfa hay made the largest gains,
amounting to 2.06 pounds per day,
average for three months, while those
on snapped corn, alfalfa and prairie
hay gained 2.01 pounds per day; those
on snapped corn, alfalfa and slower,
I,s ga Ia. =
alfalfa, 1.81 pounds, while the steers
fed snapped corn and prairie hay gain
ed but LIZ pounds per day, and those
fed snapped corn and stover, log
pounds per day.
1t will thus be seen that in each
case where alfalfa formed part or
all of the roughness the gains were
materially increased. This accords
with former experiments and emphas-
ICES further the Importance Of supply
ing in the ration all the nutrients
needed.
Alfalfa being high in protein, sup
plies that lacking in corn and that
lacking in prairie hay and corn slower.
Not only were larger gains made in the
lots fed alfalfa, but much less corn
was required for each pound of gain
when they were thus supplied.
But the vital thing for the consider
alton of the feeder is the relative cost
of gains. In the lots fed corn, alfalfa
and slower, in the one case with corn
attached to the stalk as fodder, the
cost of gains was the lowest, being
All cents per pound of gain in both
lots.
A little more pork was made where
the corn was fed on the stalk and the
net profit per steer in that lot was
$4.59, as compared with $4.2O on corn
alfalfa and slower.
On snapped corn and alfalfa, each
pound of gain cost 4.49 cents (ne1
profit per steer, $3.50.
alfalfa, ATT cents (net profit per steer
$3.10).
On snapped corn and slower, 6.97
cents (net profit per steer, 13 cents).
On snapped corn and prairie hay,
1853 cents (net loss per steer, cents)
The cheaper gains made with
slower and alfalfa rather than with al
falfa alone or with prairie hay are ex-
planned by the fact that corn stover
was figured at $3.50 per ton, compared
with prairie hay and alfalfa each at
$500 per ton. The snapped corn costs
80 cents per bushel of eighty pounds,
and that fed on the stalk, unhusked,
was figured at 81 cents.
The results were slightly in favor of
feeding as much corn as Is possible
on the stalk, though this is the first
experiment covering this particular
question, and other tests should be
made. as Is intanded. to make 1t at