176 



cattle to fatten more rapidly? (6) Will hogs do as well riiuning after silage and 

 cotton-seed meal-f> d cattle as after bay, corn, and cotton-seed-fed cattle? (7) Will 

 cotton seed improve the corn and hay ration ? (8) Are cotton hulls with cotton-seed 

 meal a good food to fatten sheep ? 



This feeding experiment was planned with special reference to test- 

 ing the principal available feeding stutts of the State under conditions 

 as nearly alike as it is practicable to secure where profit is taken into 

 account. The steers used in the experiment were divided into two lots. 

 Lot 1 consisted of fifty steers, arranged in eleven pens containing from 

 three to eight animals each, and fed ninety days. Lot 2 consisted of 

 twenty-two steers, arranged in three pens containing from three to ten 

 animals each, and fed seventy-nine days. Different rations were fed 

 to tbe different pens. For pens 1 to 6 of lot 1, silage was used as 

 the basis of the ration, to which corn-fodder, hay, boiled cotton seed, 

 cottou-aeed meal, and coru-and-cob meal were added in different mixt 

 ures. For pens 7 to 11 of lot 1, cotton seed hulls were the basis of the 

 ration, to which hay, silage, cottonseed meal, corn-and-cob meal, and 

 molasses were added in different mixtures and amounts. For lot 2 

 silage, hay, cotton-seed hulls, cotton-seed meal, cotton seed (raw and 

 cooked), and corn in the ear were used in different mixtures. 



"The effect of greater freedom, change, and variety of food is shown 

 in the rapid increase, even after the cattle had been fed seventy-nine 

 and ninety days, and made an average gain of over 200 pounds 

 per head." Artificial conditions, which to some extent are unavoidable 

 in such experiments, prevented the attainment of the best results as 

 regards increase in weight. Among such conditions are the confine- 

 ment of cattle in small pens, the use of the same feeding stuffs without 

 change during the entire period of feeding, and the frequent weighing 

 of the cattle. 



Details of the average amount of food consumed per day for each 

 period often days, live weiglit, etc., are given in nineteen tables, which 

 are summarized in two additional tables. There are also accompanying 

 explanations, together with discussions of questions as to feeding stuffs 

 used individually and in mixtures. Minor experiments in feeding hogs 

 along with cattle fed on cotton seed and in the use of cotton-seed hulls 

 for sheep, are cited. 



Among the general statements in the bulletin are the following : If 

 one half of the annual crop of cotton seed produced in the State is con- 

 verted into oil, meal, and hulls at the oil-mills, the yearly' output of cot- 

 ton-seed hulls will be approximately 200,000 tons, which, with cotton- 

 seed meal and other concentrated feeding stuffs, will fatten 200,000 head 

 of cattle, if the results obtained from feeding experiments at the station 

 and at oil-mills are correct. The use of the hulls for feeding will 

 increase the value of cotton seed, make a home market for range cattle, 

 :and thus benefit both cotton planter and cattle raiser. 



Laud that will produce 30 to ^5 liushels of corn to the acre, will make 15 tons of 

 silage from either corn or sorghum. Sorghum thrives in any place in Texas where 



