CORN SILAGE AND COTTON-SEED HULLS 

 FOR FATTENING BEEF CATTLE 



WORK CONDUCTED AT 



IREDELL TEST FARM, STATESVILLE, N. C. 



BV 



R. S. CURTIS, L. W. SHOOK, F. T. MEACHAM. 



INTRODUCTION. - 



A great deal of interest lias developed recently in the winter feeding 

 of beef cattle. This is due to two conditions : first, because of the desire 

 to incorporate the fertilizing value of cotton-seed meal in the form of 

 manure, and, second, to utilize cheap or unsalable feeds in the roughage 

 part of the ration and in the bedding to add humus to the soil. There is 

 thus a twofold reason for feeding cattle, either of which is of much 

 greater importance than ordinarily considered. Experimental workers 

 and farmers who haA^e had experience will admit that under present con- 

 ditions there is, many times, no profit in the winter cattle-feeding indus- 

 try, excluding the value of the manure. The manurial benefit to the 

 land, however, is considered to be of unquestionable value. 



This brings up the problem of the most feasible plan to follow in pre- 

 paring fattening cattle for the market. The southern farmer usually 

 has a number of roughage feeds available, and with comparatively little 

 eifort others of value can be provided. Cotton-seed hulls is the standard 

 roughage feed throughout the South, and while acceptable in many 

 respects as a roughage feed, it must be purchased direct from the cotton- 

 seed oil mills. It is generally admitted that the farmer should not pur- 

 chase roughage feeds, although cotton-seed hulls can sometimes be used 

 to advantage either as a whole or a part of the roughage ration. 



One of the principal drawbacks to the use of cotton-seed hulls is the 

 fact that they cannot be used in conjunction with cotton-seed meal for 

 a sufficient length of time to put cattle in prime market condition. For 

 this reason it is an important problem to determine whether a substitute 

 can be profitably used, either as a whole or a part of the roughage ration. 

 The following results were obtained from an experiment designed to de- 

 teraiine the feasibility of the plan suggested. 



LOCATION OF WORK. 



' The results of the work herein rej)orted were obtained from two car- 

 loads of forty-eight grade Shorthorn steers fed on the Iredell Test Farm 

 at Statesville, N". C. The results Avere obtained under the best of experi- 

 mental conditions. The feeding was done by a competent man during 

 the entire feeding period of four and one-half months. 



