Live Stock Breeders' Association. 161 



by the cattle themselves, and the hauling of it out upon the ground 

 is dispensed with. Grass is cheaper than hay, as has already been 

 pointed out, and makes better gains. The handling of the rough- 

 age is likewise disposed of. 



KIND OF GRAIN TO USE. 



In the heart of the corn belt, it goes without saying, corn must 

 be the principal and in many cases the only grain used. Under 

 certain circumstances it will be highly advisable to add to the 

 grain some supplemental feed like linseed meal or cottonseed meal, 

 but under these circumstances only in very limited quantities and 

 mainly for a special purpose. 



Generally speaking, these supplemental feeds may not be 

 profitably depended upon for making gains, but used principally to 

 improve the attractiveness of the animal and to tide him over the 

 finishing period when gains on corn alone are normally slow and 

 high priced. i 



Some Supplement Needed in Winter — Corn is deficient in pro- 

 tein. This deficiency may be supplied in practice in winter feed- 

 ing in one of two ways : By using some such feed as linseed meal, 

 cottonseed meal, gluten feed, or bran, on the one hand, or by using 

 a legume hay for roughage, such as clover, cowpeas or alfalfa, on 

 the other hand. Under the head of "Different Kinds of Roughage" 

 it is clearly pointed out that the most profitable way to meet this 

 situation is to provide a legume hay grown on the farm. It is not 

 always, however, feasible to do this, and under such circumstances 

 one of the supplemental concentrates like cottonseed meal or lin- 

 seed meal must be used. 



In twelve years of careful experimenting at the Missouri Ex- 

 periment Station with a great variety of feeds, with cattle of all 

 ages, from calves to three year olds, and of all grades, from western 

 range cattle to the best bred market-topping natives, we have never 

 found a situation in which we could afford to feed a ration so poor 

 in protein as corn combined with a non-legume roughness, such as 

 timothy hay, millet hay, sorghum hay, prairie hay, corn fodder, 

 or straw. In other words, if we do not have a good legume rough- 

 ness to combine with the corn, some supplemental feed rich in pro- 

 tein has always given a return in increased gains, in a higher fin- 

 ish, in a better bloom, and in a better selling quality that has made 

 its use profitable. In short, in winter feeding this extra protein 

 seems indispensable to satisfactory results. 



A-ll 



