The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-05-08
COTTONSEED MEAL
FOR BEEF CATTLE
AGRICULTURAL DE p A r 7 NE N T
TELLS HOW THIS MAY BE
UTILIZED.


cording to specialists in the United
States Department of Agriculture. 1t
has a slightly greater feeding value
than linseed oil meal and the farmer
is therefore recommended 20 secure
prices on both and to use the one
which happens to be the cheaper at
the time. During the past winter cot
tonseed meal sold for $24 to $28 ton
while linseed oil meal cost about $38
= ton Under such conditions the feed
or using cottonseed meal had great
advantage over the farmer using lin
seed oil meal.
Cottonseed meal contains from SO
to As per cent protein and is there
fore one of the most concentrated
feedstuffs upon the market. There
are in fact very few vegetable feeds
which have anything like this percent
age of protein. It's value has perhaps
been more thoroughly appreciated in
Europe than in this country despite
the additional cost of shipping it
abroad. During 1913, for example,
about 100000 tons of the meal were
exported to Europe. Much of what
remained in this country was used as
fertilizer, so that it has been estimat-
ed that American catrle were fed less
than one-half of the total quantity OF
= meal produced in the country. There
is. however, a growing tendency at the
present time to use the meal as a sup
Elementary feed.
In a new publication of the United
States Department of Agriculture,
Farmers Bulletin 655, "Cottonseed
Meal for Feeding Beef Cattle" 1pound
of cottonseed meal is said to be usual
ly worth as much as pounds of corn
for feeding cattle There is, however,
a distinct limit to the quantity of the
meal that animals can use economical
ly. In the South it was formerly the
custom to feed steers very heavily on
the by-products of the cottonseed oil
mills. II to Is pounds of meal day
being a not frequenp ration. Such
heavy feeding frequently caused blind
ness and death, while in other cases
the steers after gaining fast in weight
for period of 80 days or more, lost
flesh with equal rapidity and could be
with difficulty got back into good con-
dition. Experiments have shown, how
efer that when the ration is kept be-
low pounds a day, steers can be fed
for 100 to 120 days upon it without
showing i'll eects. If silage is given
at the same time, as roughage, the
feeding of cottonseed meal can be pro-
longed beyond this time with safety
Silage is a better roughage to use with
meal than cottonseed hulls, as expert
ments in several states have shown
that it gives larger daily gains and
better finish.
TUT StOShCl CdlliO q q
ton of corn silage and cottonseed
meal has proven very economical. TWO
pounds of the meal combined with as
much corn silage as the cattle will eat
will give small gain in weight. Straw
and other roughages which cannot
otherwise be used advantageOusly
may be fed with the silage and cotton
seed meal When the cattle are put
on pasture. cottonseed cake which is
the same as the meal in substance,
can be used profitably as a supple
mentary feed The cake has several
advantages over the meal for this pur-
pose. among others the fact that it IS
not so readily spoiled by rain.
Cottonseed meal is also recommend
ed as a winter ration for the breeding
herd About 2 pounds of the meal
should be given to the breeding COWS
per day together with some silage,
slower and other roughage This will
prove an economical ration and one
which will leave the COWS in good CON
dition in the spring. The bull also
may be fed from to pounds of cot
tonseed meal combined with some
other concentrated feed, but some au-
thorities hold that it is believed to
have injurious effects upon the breed
ing powers Farmers are also warned
to feed cottonseed meal very sparing-
ly if at all to young calves. This
question has not been thoroughly in
vestigated as yet and until more
knowledge is at our disposal special
lists consider 1t advisable to be on the
safe side.