1102 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



blood meal wero rcquirod per pound of gain and with the latter lot 4.43 lbs. meal 

 with i)rartically the same amounts of hay and roots in addition in each case. The 

 gains were more expensive with the blood meal than without it. 



"This is scarcely a fair test for blood meal as a food for cattle, as its greatest value 

 no doubt is with the young, growing cattle that need protein for developing muscle. 

 Moreover, the results are in accord with our previous experiments, which have gone 

 to show that light meal rations are more economical than heavier meal rations." 



The possi])le profits in feeding range steers was studied with 9 such animals, the 

 test covering 147 days, during a part of which time the steers were allowed the run 

 of a small yard. The average weight at the beginning of the test was 980 lbs., the 

 average daily gain 1.53 lbs., the cost of a pound of gain 15.56 cts., and the food con- 

 sumed per pound of gain 5.42 lbs. grain, 27.5 lbs. roots, and 18.5 lbs. hay. 



"So far as this experiment is concerned, it is e\ddent that unless they could be 

 bought at a very low rate it would not pay to feed such steers as those experimented 

 upon. At the same time it is worth noting that these steers made much better gains 

 during the period they were allowed the rim of a yard than when they were con- 

 fined in their pens." 



The feeding value of soft corn for beef production, "W. J. Kennedy et al. 

 {Iowa Sta. Bui. 73, pp. 117-133). — The corn crop was seriously damaged in many 

 sections of the United States in 1902 by early frosts, the yield per acre being much 

 reduced and the corn worthless from a market standpoint, since it was soft and 

 watery. With a view to learning the real value of this crop, the station studied the 

 feeding value and chemical composition of such corn. 



After a preliminary period, in which corn fodder and shredded corn were com- 

 pared for supplementing pasturage, the test began August 11 with 2 lots of 8 steers 

 eacli, averaging 1,030 lbs. per head in weight. From the first the steers were fed 

 full grain rations, in one case soft corn, and in the other mature corn, the grain ration 

 being supplemented by pasturage and later by hay and gluten feed. At the close of 

 the test, April 13, the steers were sold in Chicago and slaughtered. The steers fed 

 soft corn required 9.77 lbs. of corn with 3.9 \hs. of hay per pound of gain and those 

 fed mature corn 9.36 lbs. of corn and 3.44 lbs. of hay, the cost of a pomid of gain in 

 the two cases being 7.92 cts. and 10.95 cts. The shrinkage in shipping the soft corn 

 fed lot was 3.38 per cent and the dressed weight 60.8 per cent of the live weight. 

 Similar values for the lot fed mature corn were 3.47 per cent and 60 per cent. 



The soft corn used in the above trial contained a little over 35 per cent moisture 

 at the beginning of the test and 16 per cent at its close. According to the authors 

 the results obtained show that the soft corn was fully equal in feeding value to 

 mature corn for fattening cattle. 



"Cattle fed on such soft corn made nearly as heavy gains and finished equally as 

 well as those fed on mature corn. . . . When soft corn similar to that used in this 

 test could be purchased for 30 cts. per bushel, the prevailing market price, gains on 

 fattening cattle could be made at a cost of 3.03 cts. per pound less than when mature 

 corn, costing 50 cts. per bushel, the prevailing market price, was fed under similar 

 conditions." 



Analyses showed that both the grain and cob of soft corn contained considerably 

 more water than similar samples of mature corn, but did not differ otherwise 

 markedly in chemical composition. In a considerable number of analyses of samples 

 of corn gathered from different sections of Iowa in 1902 the maximum amount of 

 moisture present in the corn was 23.89 per cent, the minimum 11.30 per cent, and 

 the average 18.83 per cent. In the case of the cob the maximum was 39 per cent, 

 the minimum 6.76 percent, and the average 27.65 percent. As shown by these 

 figures the variation in water content was lai'ge. According to the authors "the 

 amount of moisture depends chiefly upon the maturity of the corn when stricken by 

 frost. 



