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EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



[Vol. 41 



used. Jersey blood apparently predominated among the Mississippi steers. 

 Other details and the principal results are given in the following table: 



Steer feeding on southern pastures, uith and mthout supplement. 



Corn chop. 



2 Com-and-cob meal. 



A pasture charge of 50 cts. per head for each 28 days was assigned in all 

 the experiments. The price of cottonseed calie in the successive years was 

 $28, $27.50, $29.60, and $32 per ton, respectively. The charge for corn in 1912 

 was 85.5 cts. a bushel and in 1913, 70 cts. 



The calie-fed steers shov/ed throughout distinctly better finish than the 

 others. This difference is reflected in the comparative selling prices of any one 

 year and in the dressing percentages. The grass-fed steers of 1915 had to be 

 sold as stockers. In spite of the higher cost, cake feeding returned more 

 profit each year than pasture without supplement, except in 1916, when lot 2 

 was fed at a loss of 5 cents per head. The profits in different years are not 

 comparable, since charges for freight, commission, yardage, etc., were added 

 to the costs in 1915 and 1916, but not in 1912 and 1913. The poor showing of 

 the 1916 cake-fed steers is attributed in part to inferior breeding. 



The partial replacement of cake by corn chop or corn-and-cob meal is not 

 considered desiral)le under the conditions of the experiments reported unless 

 very cheap corn is available. 



The use of cottonseed cake as a pasture supplement is recommended because 

 of the higher prices the steers will generally bring, the added fertilizing value 

 of the manure, and the earlier date at which the animals can be marketed. 



Cattle feeding experiments, J. M. Scott {Florida Sta. Rpt. 1918, pp. 18-20). — 

 Two cooperative experiments on private farms in collaboration with the Bu- 

 reau of Animal Industry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture are reported. 



In the first, 220 native steers 3 to 5 years old, averaging 582 lbs. in weight 

 per head, were turned into an 80-acre Florida velvet bean field November 5, 

 1917. After 28 days the animals averaged 590 lbs. jflid the feed was changed 

 to sorghum silage, velvet beans in pod, and cottonseed meal. On the fifty- 

 sixth day the weight was 589 lbs., and on the eighty-fourth, when the ex- 

 periment terminated, 644 lbs. The average daily gain per head was 0.74 lb. 

 There was a $2 margin and a profit of $4.02 per head. 



In the other experiment 116 native steers similar to the preceding were 

 pastured on an 85-acre field of velvet beans for 72 days, beginning November 

 6, 1917. They lost considerably in weight for a while in December, but there 

 was an average daily gain for the whole period of 0.267 lb. per steer. The 



