084 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



only grain fed was Kafir corn, although in no case were as large gains 

 made by pigs on Kafir corn as on corn meal. 



"The loss from failure to digest all the food eaten is much less when hogs are fed 

 ungnmnd Kafir corn than when cattle are so fed. In some cases hogs made less gain 

 on soaked Kafir corn than when it was fed dry — probably because they ate the latter 

 more slowly and masticated it more thoroughly. 



"Running whole Kafir cornstalks through the thrashing machine puts the stover 

 in excellent coudition for feeding. Cracking some of the grains in the processor 

 thrashing tends to increase percentage digested, if fed unground. 



"This station has not succeeded in getting large gains with steers fed whole cot- 

 ton seed as sole grain, hut making cotton seed a part of the gram ration has given 

 good results in a number of cases. 



"From May 9 to Septemher 1 of this year 9 yearling steers on pasture made an 

 average gain of 160 Ihs. each. During September, when fed reasonahly near full 

 feed of corn, still on pasture, they averaged a gain of 73 lbs. each. Taken from pas- 

 ture and put on full feed of corn meal, with dry rough forage, they made little 

 gain for first 3 weeks of October, probably partly because of carrying less weight 

 in stomach. . . . 



"Somewhat limited trials in feeding stock melons show them to be much liked, 

 especially by hogs. Having a fair feeding value, being well suited to serve as acor- 

 rective of the bad effects of exclusive grain feeding to hogs, their large yield and 

 the readiness with which they can be harvested, make it probable that they may 

 wisely be substituted for root crops in Oklahoma, in part at least." 



Feeding experiments at Mains of Laithers, 1897, A. P. Aitken 

 ( Trans. Highland and Agr. Soc. Scotland, 5. ser., 10 ( 1898), pp. 259-280).— 

 Experiments on the comparative value of concentrated feeding stuff's, 

 which are in continuation of work previously reported (E. S. R., 9, p. 

 47G), were made with 5 lots of cattle. Each lot was made up of 8 

 Irish-bred and 2 home bred animals. Lots 1 to 3 contained 6 heifers 

 and 4 steers, and lots 4 and 5, 5 of each sex. The test began January 

 14, 1897, and covered 16 weeks. It was preceded by a preliminary 

 period of 1 week under tbe same conditions as tbe experiment proper. 

 All of the lots were given 80 lbs. per head daily of turnips and oat 

 straw ad libitum. Sixty pounds of the turnips were fed sliced and 20 

 lbs. pulped. The straw was fed in 8-lb. bundles and the amounts eaten 

 recorded. In order to compare the concentrated feeding stuffs on a 

 financial basis the lots were fed an amount of the different materials 

 which could be purchased for the same price as 5 lbs. of linseed meal. 

 Lot 1 was given per head daily G' r - lbs. of decorticated cotton-seed meal 

 and dried brewers' grain 1:1; lot 2, 5 lbs. linseed meal; lot 3, Ih lbs. 

 barley bran; lot 4, 6 lbs. barley; and lot 5, 6§ lbs. maize. It became 

 evident that too large an amount of barley was fed to lot 4 and the 

 quantity was after a time reduced to 4 lbs. In every case account was 

 taken of any uneaten residue of the ration. The feeding stuffs were 

 all analyzed. The nutritive ratio of the rations fed the several lots 

 was as follows: Lot 1, 1 : 5.5; lot 2, 1 : 6.3; lot 3, 1 : 8.7; lot 4, 1 : 10.8, 

 and lot 5, 1 : 11.7. Each lot weighed about 9,S00 lbs. The average 

 daily gain per head for the different lots was as follows: Lot 1, 1.51 

 lbs.; lot 2, 1.47 lbs.; lot 3, 1.41 lbs.; lot 4, 1.28 lbs., and lot 5, 1.41 lbs. 

 The experiment is reported and discussed in considerable detail. 



