674 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 37 



Still remains to be proved definitely that the rate of passage of feed residue 

 through the steer can be measured by the moisture content of the feces. Our 

 work has shown that if a high moisture content of the feces is indicative of 

 rapid passage then the apparent digestion is more complete probably for all the 

 nutrients with the more rapid passage and less complete with the slower move- 

 ment. Unfortunately, the method of study shows only the relationship and not 

 the extent of the variation in digestion associated with a high moisture 

 content." 



In studying the problem by the second method soft rubber discs cut from 

 heavy rubber tubing were fed at the beginning of a ten-day digestion trial and 

 a count was made of them as they appeared in the feces. Some of the indica- 

 tors appeared within 12 hours, while others were recovered as late as 60 days 

 following, and still others never came out until the steers were slaughtered. 

 While this method proved impractical, the slaughter tests showed that hard 

 particles of feed and foreign substances were especially prone to become delayed 

 in transit either in the reticulum, in the fourth, or true, stomach, or in the first 

 few ventral folds of the duodenum. The coarse feeds and roughages retard the 

 rate of passage of feed residues, a point proved conclusively by the slaughter tests. 

 In connection with this method the use of 60 or 120 gra. per steer daily of calcium 

 carbonate or magnesium sulphate exerted no appreciable effect upon the rate 

 of passage of feed residue or upon the digestion coefficients. 



Studying the problem by the third method, an accurate mea.sure of the time 

 required for the passage of the residue of feed was obtained by use of a for- 

 mula. The inaccuracies of the method arising from certain metabolic processes 

 are recognized, but it is stated that their influence would be no greater on these 

 results than on the dige.<5tion coefficients, if as much. 



The data obtained by this method Indicate that with the rations used and 

 the quantities fed the time required for the passage of the feed residues through 

 the animals varied from 2.9 to r).2 days. " The two most important factors 

 determining the rate of passage are the nature of the ration and the amount 

 fed. Coarse roughages seem to require a considerably greater time than the 

 more finely ground concentrated feeds. ... As to the Influence of quantity, it 

 appears that, when the coarse feeds were fed, a smaller quantity required a 

 greater time for passage of the residues, but when the feed was a concentrate 

 in pulverized form the variation was not so pronounced. ... In dealing with 

 the influence which the rate of passage of the feed residue may have had on the 

 digestion coefficients we are unable definitely to attribute changes to the rate of 

 passage, and at best it can only be said that associated with the more rapid 

 passage there occurred an apparent gain in the digestibility of tho ash, negligible 

 results in the case of nitrogen, a decided loss in the digestibility of the crude 

 fiber, a gain in the case of the nitrogen-free extract, and negligible results in the 

 case of fat." 



[Feeding experiments with beef cattle], D. T. Gray {North Carolina Sta. 

 Rpt. 191S, pp. S1S4)- — To ascertain the best feed for wintering stock cattle, 

 67 grade steers were fed varying amounts of cottonseed meal and corn silage 

 for 148 days at the station farm during the winter of 1915-16. The steers in 

 lot 1 were fed an average daily ration of 20 lbs. of corn silage and 1 lb. of 

 cottonseed meal, those In lot 2 an average ration of 23 lbs. of corn silage, those 

 in lot 3 an average ration of 20 lbs. of corn silage, and those In lot 4 an average 

 ration of 20 lbs. of corn silage and 0.5 lb. of cottonseed meal. During the 

 last 44 days of the experiment all the lots also received 5 lbs. of corn stover 

 per head daily. The steers in the first lot lost 16.2 lbs. during the entire 



