The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-22
STEERS RATIONED
ON COTTONSEED
FATTEN CHEAPLY
Rate Of Gain Materially In
creased During Summer
Months by Supplement to
Pasture.

Feeding cottonseed cake to steers
as a supplement 10 summer pasture In
the South Increases materially the rate
OF the gains made by the animals,
causes them 10 finish more quickly and
take on a higher margin between the
buying and selling prices. according to
specialists Of the United States de-
partment of agriculture, who make q
report Of experiments in fattening
steers on summer pasture conducted
comparatively by the department and
the Alabama experiment station. Pres
ent opportunities for live stock in the
South and efforts to reduce production
costs make the rest OF unusual cur
rent interest.
All the experiments were carried out
under actual and typical farm condi-
tIons. consequently the results may
be applied directly In many Southern
regions to the management and feed
ing OF cattle on pasture. In each ex-
pertinent, groups Of steers were kept
on pasture alone, on pasture with a
chop and one-half c~ottonseed cake,
n on pasture with a supplementary
feed Of ~cottonseed cake. The average
daily gains for each animal, which
may be considered the most valuable
standard in judging the efficiency of
r%ations, were l.4s pounds for the
steers getting pasture only, 1888
pounds for these on pasture supple
mented by cottonseed cake, and 1853
pounds for the steers getting pasture
supplemented by the mixture Of cake
n corn chop.
The initial cost Of the steers per
100 pounds OF the three groups was
the amt for any one year, but in
each case the steers in pasture alone
sold for a lower price. The margins
between the buying and selling prices
OF the cattle were always in favor of
those which were fed supplements with
their pasture. The margins averaged
less than 20 cents a hundred pounds,
for the steers on pasture alone COM
pared to 80 cents for animals which
were fed ~cottonseed oil cake with pas
ture and 8ih cents for the animals
whose pasture was supplemented with
the mixture of corn chop and cake,
After the animals had been butchered
inspection showed that the steers which
were fed cottonseed cake or a mixture
Of cake and corn with pasture dressed
out higher than the cattle which had
pasture alone.
While the steers that had pasture
alone made gains cheaply, the total
gains were not large, and their steers
did not take on a high finish. Their
unfinished condition Is reflected in the
small margin on which they were sold
and low dressing percentages. Thus
the profits they returned we're smaller
than for the steers In the other W
groups,
The cost OF gains OF steers on pas-
ture Is greatly increased by feeding
cottonseed cake, IL was found, but the
better market prices received for cake
fed cattle usually pay for the additional
cost Of feeding cake, and return q
greater average profit than is realized
on the grass fed cattle. One of the
distinct advantages on supplementing
pastures for concentrates Is the fact
that steers so handled can be finished
more quickly and can be marketed
earlier than steers getting grass alone.
Thus the cattle can be sold before the
rush OF grass fed cattle gluts the mar
ket and depresses the price, Moreover,
when cattle are marketed early the
pastures have time to recuperate n
furnish good grazing for other stock
during the fall.
There Is only one case, says the
official bulletin, when pasture alone is
preferable TO pasture with concentrates
Steers OF inferior quality may return
more profit by grazing alone than by
grazing with the addition OF supple
mentary feeds, especially when they are
on good pastures that are cheap. Scrub
steers did not respond readily to the
use OF good feeds and even when well
finished do not command satisfactory
prices IN competition with well bred
cattle similarly finished, The better
the quality of the steers the safer 1t is
to give them high priced feeds.