153 



cleliorncd. Aji additional jx'ii was hiiilt outside in which six steers 

 ■were kept without dehorn iii<i'. 



Dehorning. — 'J'his was [)ert'oriued successfully and with less appar- 

 ent pain to the animals than uiiaht perhaps have been expected. 



While sawing off the h(jrns of a full-gritwn !>teer may seem severe treatment 

 and somewhat" cruel, the fact that the operation reciiiires very little skill and 

 time, that it is safe, tliat it tames the animal to a siu-prising degree, and that a 

 drove of the wildest cattle may run loose togetlier in a building, like a flock of 

 sheep, and that they will fatten faster after dehorning than before, leads us to 

 l)eliev»" that dehorning has solved the problem of making sheltei'ing practicable. 

 and that it will be a.dopted by the Texas cattle feeder. 



The author belicAes it is shown fi'om experiments with thousands 

 of cattle in different pai'ts of tlie country that dehornino- may b? per- 

 formed as safely as castration. " v hile the ])ain suffered by the animal 

 for but one or tA\() nnnutes is jiot to be compared Avith injuries which 

 cattle inflict on each other aa 1th their hoins when massed together." 



Feeding sticff.s. — The eight old cows had a ration of silage, corn 

 fodder, boiled cotton seed, and cotton-seed meal. Of the eight lots of 

 steers, five had silage and hay. Besides these materials, lot 2 had 

 cotton-seed meal ; lot 3. boiled cotton seed ; lot 4, yaw cotton seed ; and 

 lot 5, cotton-seed meal and corn-and-cob meal. Of the others, lot 6 

 had cotton-seed hidls and cotton-seed meal ; lot T, silage, cotton-seed 

 hulls, and cotton-seed meal ; lot 8, hay and corn in the ear with the 

 shuck; and lot 9, hay, corn in the ear with the shnck, and cotton-seed 

 ineal. Cotton seed was used in various forms and combinations 

 because it is one of the cheapest feeding stuffs in Texas. Silage (corn 

 for the most part) was largely used to show Texas stockmen, to whom 

 it is " practically unknown,'' that it is an economical and desirable 

 feeding material. The intention was to ado])t the German standard 

 for a ration, but cm trial it was found that the cattle would not eat 3 

 pounds of digestible albuminoids and 16 pounds of carbohydrates and 

 fat per 1.000 i)()unds of live Aveight. nor silage in the ratio of 1 to 5. 



In several years" exiierience in feeding Sonthei-n grown corn silage, we have 

 found that cows and steers would never consmne niore than 3-") to 40 pounds per 

 day to 1.000 i)ounds live weight, while the average has not beeri a]>ove 25 povnid.s. 

 The analysis of silage given by the chemist shows that Southern grown silage 

 has a higher nutritive value than NorthcM'n grown silage, and our experience in 

 feeding indicates that we get the same return in milk, butter, and beef fnmi a 

 less quantity. 



Anah/sefi of the feeding sfnffs are reported (p)). 2.S-31) by H. H. 

 Harrington, M. S.. chemist of the Station, and his assistant, D. 

 Adriance, and compared with the results of analyses at other stations. 



The average amount of food consumed j)er day })er head for each 

 period; the live weights of the several animals in each lot at the be- 

 ginning and end of the experiment, and at intervals dui'ing its con- 

 tinuance; the cost of the food consumed by each lot. and other data. 

 are iriven in fourteen tables. 



