136 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ration with feeds as high as they are at present, these things should all 

 receive careful consideration. Oftentimes it may be found profitable to 

 sell some crop that is grown on the farm and use some of these by- 

 products in its place. Many feeders, I believe, have made a mistake by 

 feeding too much and too good a grade of roughages to their cattle after 

 they are put into the feed lot. We have feeders in our state piling 

 alfalfa hay into their feed racks that is worth $9 and $10 per ton, and 

 allowing their cattle to consume all of it that they will, when they 

 might be making better gains by using half as much expensive hay and 

 utilizing some cheaper class of roughness. 



One of the best and most successful feeders that I know of, and a 

 man who lives in one of the best alfalfa sections, has almost abandoned 

 the use of alfalfa in his feed lot, and claims that he can make better 

 and cheaper gains by using a cheaper class of roughness. This is 

 especially true where cattle from the southwest are being fed. These 

 cattle have been raised on the shortest grass that grows, and a grass that 

 is very nutritious. They have not been accustomed to handling large 

 quantities of feed, but rather have always had their rations in a more 

 concentrated form, and it will be found that they will usually make much 

 better gains if you can get them to eat more grain and less bulky rough- 

 ness. We frequently hear a complaint from feeders in the blue grass 

 and clover sections of the country about these southwestern cattle not 

 grazing satisfactorily, and it is not to be wondered at. When these 

 cattle have been grazed for three or four years on buffalo grass, you can 

 hardly expect them to go onto a large, rank growth of blue grass and 

 clover, that contains a very large per cent of water, and expect them 

 to handle enough of it to make satisfactory and economical gains. 



There are many questions in connection with the feeding, and pro- 

 duction of beef cattle that need to be considered very carefully, and if 

 we would think of our cattle as being machines for the changing of the 

 rough, raw products of the farm into a more marketable condition, and 

 would give the same attention to get these machines of the most im- 

 proved and up-to-date types, as has been done with many of our tools 

 and machines now in use on our best farms, and would then give a little 

 more ' attention to putting the most economical kinds and mixtures of 

 feeds into these machines, we would hear less complaint about the 

 cattle business being unprofitable, less talk about us soon importing beef 

 instead of exporting it; and we would continue to have meat on our 

 tables three times a day. 



Mr. Gunn: Each time Professor Kinzer mentioned, cottonseed 

 meal, he called it "cake." I would like to know what he means by 

 cake. 



Professor Kinzer: There are several brands of cottonseed cake 

 on the market. You can buy it in nut or pea size or any size you 

 want. We prefer it to the meal; there is very little difference in 

 the value. 



