FARM ANIMALS 127 



obviously depend on the expense of cutting. 



Some form of succulence is quite necessary in 

 order to obtain the best results from the other 

 parts of the ration. Roots may be fed in rations 

 of twenty-five to sixty pounds per day. In Eng- 

 land it has been found that a ration of fifty-six 

 pounds of swedes per day is effective and cheaper 

 than when one-half of this root ration is replaced 

 by clover hay, molasses and corn meal. It is 

 recommended by English feeders that fattening 

 steers should be fed at least twenty-eight pounds 

 of roots per day. The feeding value of different 

 roots for steers is very similar. 



In Florida cassava has been fed to steers, partly 

 for succulence and partly to supply the starch 

 part of the ration. The benefits derived from cas- 

 sava were very striking in certain cases. Cas- 

 sava was given in rations of thirty pounds, or 

 cassava pulp, from starch factories, in rations 

 of eighteen pounds mixed with five pounds of 

 cotton seed meal. Cassava pulp is sold at a price 

 which renders it less economic than the whole 

 root. Rarely, cassava may contain prussic acid. 

 Certain Queensland feeders, therefore, recommend 

 that cassava should be sliced and boiled before 

 feeding. 



Sugar beet pulp has lately become one of the 

 most important feeds for adding succulence and 

 increasing the digestibility of the ration for steers. 

 It is sold from sugar beet factories at from fifty 

 cents to $2 . 50 per ton and at this price is an eco- 

 nomical feed. It is not only bought and fed on 

 a small scale by farmers, but has been used in 

 enormous quantities by a number of the extensive 

 cattle feeders of the West. Sugar beet pulp 

 contains essentially the same elements as sugar 



