The Bulletin. 17 



meal, and i)ut large quantities of pure meal in the ground direct, as 

 fertilizer, there will be reason for the feeding of beef cattle on our 

 farms. 



If the feeding period is to be a short one, say not to exceed 100 

 days, large quantities of cotton-seed meal may be used in connection 

 with corn stover and corn silage with comparative safety, as much as 

 6, 8 or even 10 pounds per day to a 1,000-pound steer; but if the 

 feeding period is to be of much longer duration the amount of meal 

 should probably not exceed from 5 to 7 pounds per day. 



CORN. 



Corn is the fattening feed, par excellence, in the Middle Northern 

 States, where cattle-feeding is extensively carried on. No better feed 

 is to be found anywhere, and with cotton-seed meal it makes a combi- 

 nation especially valuable ; but the usual high price of corn precludes 

 its extensive use in this State. It is seldom that corn is less than 50 

 cents per bushel, while generally it is above 60 cents per bushel, and 

 at such prices it is doubtful if any of it can be economically used 

 in the feeding of beef cattle as long as cotton seed do not go above 

 25 cents to 30 cents per bushel, and cotton-seed meal not above $25 to 

 $30 per ton. 



It is not certain that with good cattle and a long feeding period, 

 corn at 50 cents per bushel may not be profitably fed, but in the expe- 

 rience of the writer, during the past winter it did not pay to feed 

 corn in any quantity, although with one lot of cattle more rapid gains 

 were made by a cotton-seed meal-corn and cob meal ration than by the 

 cotton-seed meal-cotton seed rations. But when the cost of these 

 more rapid gains was counted it was found that the lot making the 

 cheapest beef was fed on cotton-seed meal and cotton seed with corn 

 stover for roughage. 



OTHER CONCENTRATED FEEDING-STUFFS. 



The same facts and reasoning as above applied to the feeding of 

 corn, probably also apply to all other high-priced grains or concen- 

 trates, such as wheat bran, rice products, gluten feeds, etc. In long 

 feeding periods, small quantities of these feeds may possibly be used 

 advantageously, but even this is doubtful, and it is quite certain that 

 as a general rule the average feeder will not find their use profitable 

 in any quantity. 



RATIONS. 



In presenting rations which from experience and observation seem 

 to be best calculated to yield profitable results, it is not intended to 

 convey the idea that these are the only combinations of our feeding- 

 stuffs which may yield good results ; but merely to indicate what are 

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