366 



Bulletin 91 



REFUSED FEED 



A small quantity of the feed given the cattle in each lot was 

 wasted. Good mangers were used and an effort was made to supply 

 the cattle with only the amount of feed they would consume without 

 waste. Small quantities of feed dropped from the mouths of the 

 cattle to the ground and some waste resulted in this manner. All 

 feed the animals did not eat and left in the manger was weighed and 

 a careful record kept of it. The alfalfa hay was easily separated 

 from the other feed and a close record of the amount of hay actually 

 consumed by the animals was secured. The silage lost moisture so 

 that the record of the refused silage has little significance. The 

 cracked grain and cottonseed meal became so mixed with the silage 

 that it was difficult to ascertain how much of each of these feeds was 

 refused by the different lots. It was noticed, however, that the cattle 

 made an effort to eat the grain and cottonseed meal, and no doubt 

 onl> small quantities of these concentrates were left behind as refuse. 

 The amount of feed refused in the various lots is given in Table IV. 



TABLE IV.— HAY AND.SILAGE REFUSED BY THE CATTLE IN THE DIFFERENT LOTS 



As was to be expected, Lot I left more alfalfa hay than any of the 

 other lots, but the refused hay in this lot was only 2 percent, although 

 a total of 316 pounds of hay was weighed back. Lots II, IV, and VI 

 refused from 138 to 181 pounds of alfalfa hay, this amount being from 

 four to eight percent of the total given these lots. Lots III and V 

 received no alfalfa hay. It is believed that if they had been allowed 

 the refused alfalfa hay from the other four lots they would have eaten 

 it and probably made better gains. 



Lot V refused 618 pounds of silage. This was more than twice 

 as much as the silage refused by Lot III. Most of the silage refused 



