518 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 



On the whole, the various mineral mixtures have done some good in 

 increasing gains somewhat and in decreasing the feed requirement. The 

 salt, limestone, raw bone meal mineral mixture group, Lot 5, is in the 

 lead so far. This lot excelled both check groups in gains, appetite and 

 feed requirements. 



The free-choice group. Lot 9, made a creditable showing. The approxi- 

 mate percentages of materials as consumed by them when they had their 

 choice is as follows: Salt, under 1 per cent; raw bone meal, 20 per cent; 

 wood ashes, 36 per cent; sulphur, 12 per cent; limestone, under 1 per 

 cent; Glauber's salts, 28 per cent; epsom salts, 1 per cent; copperas, under 

 1 per cent; potassium iodide (as mixed with salt), one-tenth of 1 per cent; 

 approximate total, 100 per cent. 



The low consumption of salt is probable due to high consumption of 

 Glauber's salts (when pure is a sodium sulphate) and the heavy eating of 

 wood ashes, which carry to a degree the elements of salt. 



A good many people ask the question, Will hogs stop rooting when they 

 are fed a mineral mixture? We have found that they will, if the rest of 

 the ration is all right. If you are feeding a good supplement like tankage 

 or skim-milk, on a good forage like alfalfa, rape, clover and blue grass 

 while green, the hogs will not root to any great extent. The addition of a 

 mineral mixture we also believe to be an advantage through the pasture. 

 Hogs will make beds around, but they will not root and tear up the sod 

 like where they are fed a poor ration. 



If there are any questions that you men would like to ask, I will be glad 

 to answer them. 



The President: We will spend a few minutes in discussing 

 this question, if there is anything anybody wishes to present in con- 

 nection w^ith this subject. 



Q. They generally root more after a hard rain, don't they? 



A. Yes ; while the ground is soft. 



Q. I would like to ask the speaker whether he has the ratio of 

 cost of cottonseed meal as to the price of other feeds? You spoke 

 of cottonseed meal quite frequently, and I w^ould like to know 

 the ratio of cost of cottonseed meal at the present time as com- 

 pared to corn. 



A. Cottonseed meal now is worth about $38 per ton. 



Q. Forty-two dollars and fifty certs per ton, is it not? 



A. We were quoted 41 per cent protein cottonseed meal at $38, 

 and oil meal at $42, a week ago. 



Q. What do you have figured out as to the cost of corn and 

 other feeds in price compared with the price of cottonseed meal? 



A. When corn is cheap like it is this year, I doubt if it is best 

 to feed three pounds of cottonseed meal, to two-year-old steers, es- 

 pecially ; but it has been our experience that it does pay to feed 

 some even with cheap corn and cottonseed meal worth $42 per ton. 



