142 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



is somewhat objectionable from a practical standpoint. The results prob- 

 ably would have been different had he based his allowance on equal money 

 values or on equal protein content. As it was, however, he found that the 

 gains of the cattle were practically the same, but the cold pressed cattle 

 sold for 5 cents higher. The profits were practically the same with $30 

 meal and $16 cake. One serious disadvantage of the cake, as shown by 

 the figures, is that it seemed to inhibit silage consumption to the extent 

 of four or five pounds per head daily, which, on the two-year-old steer 

 is quite an item in the production of cheap gains. 



The preparation of the -corn fed is likewise dependent somewhat upon 

 the roughage. With dry hays, it has been our custom to recommend that 

 broken ear corn be fed up until the time that the steer begins shelling the 

 corn himself, when a portion of the corn, as gauged by the steer's appetite, 

 should be given shelled. It seems that it does not pay to grind unless one 

 has no hogs to follow. Toward the end of the feeding period, the addition 

 of the cob to the ration is preferably undesirable, and it may be that our 

 observations showing the superiority of shelled corn at this time may be 

 interpreted on the cob theory, namely, that it should not occupy im- 

 portant space in the paunch during the finishing process, when grain 

 would do so much better. 



Corn and cob meal has never appealed to me very strongly unless it 

 were in the "getting-on-feed process." Experiments run by the Illinois 

 station showed that the broken ear corn, when fed in conjunction with 

 dry clover, was superior to corn and cob meal. Professor Coffey, of the 

 same station, working with lambs, has also shown that the ear corn was 

 much more efficient than the corn and cob meal. 



Our experience with lambs this winter has shown clearly that where 

 alfalfa is used, the grain and alfalfa being kept the same in all the lots, 

 that the broken ear corn is the most efficient, shelled corn second, and 

 ground corn clearly the least desirable method of preparation. On the 

 same amount of corn and alfalfa, the broken ear corn lambs lead, shelled 

 second, and ground last, in actual gains made. On silage, ground corn 

 and broken ear are practically tied in the amount of gains, with shelled 

 corn last. 



That shelled corn is more desirable for cattle receiving silage is 

 somewhat indicated by the Illinois station results of last year. However, 

 the results are not conclusive. We have found at this station that shelled 

 corn is very efficient, and our judgment is that it is better than the broken 

 ear when fed in conjunction with silage. We do not believe it pays to 

 grind because of the added expense incurred. 



The age at which we should market our cattle is dependent, of course, 

 upon whether we grow them or buy them. If we grow our own beef 

 from well-bred dams and sires of the typical beef breeds — Angus, Short- 

 horn, Hereford and Galloway — we can not afford to keep the calves through 

 the yearling and two-year-old stage. We must get rid of them as quickly 

 as possible, marketing them as baby beef at the handy weights of 1,100 

 to 1,200 pounds, and while they are still yearlings. 



That the "pushing from birth" and "early marketing" pays is clearly 

 shown by some practical farm figures presented. 



