178 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



fattening steers on corn and prairie hay, though some were making 

 use of straw, cane or millet as a substitute for prairie hay. In the 

 more central and western portions of the State corn and alfalfa 

 were being fed, while a number in the Missouri river counties were 

 feeding clover. The use of oil-meal and cottonseed-meal was con- 

 fined to a few men who feed on an extensive scale and who buy 

 practically all their grain. From the observations made, it would 

 be conservative to say that unbalanced rations were being fed on 

 two-thirds of the farms visited. That our farmers might have 

 a practical demonstration of the greater possibilities of a system 

 of cattle feeding which is in harmony with Nature's laws with re- 

 spect to the character of the food as opposed to a system which 

 ignores entirely the animal's physiological requirements, the series 

 of experiments herein described were conducted under conditions 

 precisely as they may be found on many farms in the State. 



PLAN OF EXPERIMENTS, WITH REFERENCE TO CONDITIONS OTHER 



THAN FEED. 



The steers selected for all experiments were grown under 

 range conditions, having had no grain previous to their purchase. 

 They were chosen for uniformity in age, quality and size as nearly 

 as it was possible to secure it. When the division into lots of ten 

 steers each was made, previous to the experimental feeding, an 

 effort was put forth to make the several lots representative of the 

 entire herd, so that no one lot would have the advantage of another 

 in weight, quality, condition or age. This would make the several 

 lots of a single winter's experiment comparable, but not those fed 

 one winter with the lots fed another winter. In other words, the 

 reader is not to compare the feed record of 1904-05 with the feed 

 record of 1905-06, or any other year. Grade Hereford yearlings 

 from Cherry county, Nebraska, were fed in 1903-04 ; grade Short- 

 horn two-year-olds from North Park, Colorado, in 1904-05 ; Grade 

 Shorthorn and Hereford two-year-olds from Rock county, Nebraska, 

 in 1905-06, and Grade Angus two-year-olds from Sioux county, 

 Nebraska, in 1906-07. All lots in every experiment were provid- 

 ed with sheds having large open doors on the south side, to permit 

 the steers to go in and out at will, none having horns. The yards 

 were small but of sufficient size to permit of some exercise. All 

 cattle were given water morning and night, and salt was kept be- 

 fore them at all times. Each lot was fed for a preliminary period 

 of approximately three weeks before the records of the experi- 



