10 The Bulletin. 



seed hulls should have special attention, owing to the dry, undigestible 

 nature of this roughage feed. The writers desire to emphasize the neces- 

 sity of a plentiful and regular water supply for steers, especially since 

 the idea is prevalent that cattle need only a limited amount of water at 

 certain times in the day. Better gains will ahvays be secured when the 

 steers have free access to water. 



BEDDING MATERIAL. 



The bedding material used consisted of leaves, wheat straw, and corn 

 stover. A sufficient quantity was used to keep the cattle reasonably clean 

 and conserve the liquid manure. Bedding is rather difficult to obtain 

 in many instances for winter cattle feeding work. For this reason, and 

 the fact that the manure can be so much better saved, it is advisable to 

 feed entirely under cover, with the exceptions following. Work is under 

 way in sandy sections of the State to determine the feasibility of feeding 

 cattle on the land where the manure is to be applied. *A brief summary 

 of this work has just been published. It is impossible to follow this 

 practice in the clay sections, however, because of tramping and puddling 

 the soil. 



In this feeding experiment there was no waste roughage, so that the 

 entire amount of bedding was supplied especially for the purpose. When 

 corn stover is fed, a large quantity of the coarser material not eaten by 

 the cattle can be utilized for bedding purposes. These cattle were 

 bedded on the average about once each week. During bad weather 

 material was supplied at shorter intervals. During the first part of the 

 work leaves were used largely. During the last part wheat straw and 

 com stover were used. 



VALUATION OF FEEDS. 



A standard market value was placed on each of the feeds used. The 

 valuations given include the cost of delivery to the farm barn. The 

 cotton-seed meal was rated at $27.75 per ton, the cotton-seed hulls at 

 $7.50 per ton, and the average valuation of corn silage was placed at 

 $3.50 per ton. The latter figure fixing the value of corn silage may be 

 too high under some conditions in the State and too low in others. This 

 valuation was fixed "as an average for the whole State. 



METHOD AND TIME OF WEIGHING CATTLE. 



In the financial statements the mountaiy. weights of the cattle are used 

 for making the calculations on the initial cost. The final weight is the 

 same as that used in the -discussion of the experimental results. 



In the beginning of the experimental period the cattle were weighed 

 on three consecutive mornings before being fed and watered, and the 

 average of these three weights taken for the initial experimental weight. 



*N. C. Exp. Sta. Circular-Letter. 



