374 



FEEDS AND FEEDING 



be ground, forming velvet bean feed (often erroneously called velvet 

 bean meal), or the whole beans and pods should be soaked 24 hours be- 

 fore feeding, to soften the hard pods. Velvet bean feed or the soaked 

 beans and pods are not very palatable to cattle, and the best results 

 are secured when either of these feeds forms not over 40 per ct. of the 

 concentrates, the balance consisting of better-liked feeds. Velvet bean 

 feed furnishes slightly more digestible crude protein than wheat bran 

 and is considerably higher in total digestible nutrients. Hooper and 

 Nutter at the Kentucky Station 53 found velvet bean feed about equal 

 to wheat bran when fed as a partial substitute for it. Lindsey and 

 Beals at the Massachusetts Station 54 report it to be of slightly higher 

 value than wheat bran, when fed in a concentrate mixture consisting of 

 4 parts of either velvet bean feed or wheat bran, 4 parts of corn meal or 

 corn feed meal, and 2 parts of cottonseed meal. 



Velvet bean feed is worth much less per ton than cottonseed meal, 

 as would be expected from the fact that it supplies only 18 per ct. 

 crude protein and contains over 12 per ct. fiber. Moore of the Missis- 

 sippi Station 55 considers 1 Ib. of cottonseed meal equal to 2.5 Ibs. of 

 velvet bean, feed. Velvet bean feed had a slightly lower value than 

 this in a trial by Ewing, Bidgway, and Doubt at the Texas Station, 56 

 while in a trial by Jarnagin of the Georgia College of Agriculture 57 

 velvet bean feed at $25 per ton was more economical than cottonseed 

 meal or peanut meal at $35 per ton. 



605. Dried distillers' grains. Before national prohibition was enacted, 

 dried distillers' grains, which are about as bulky as wheat bran and as 

 high in protein as gluten feed, were extensively used for feeding dairy 

 cows. At the Massachusetts Station 58 dried distillers' grains proved 

 slightly superior to gluten feed, and at the Vermont Station 59 they 

 proved somewhat better than dried brewers' grains and about equal to 

 cottonseed meal. The grains chiefly made from rye are inferior to 

 those chiefly made from corn. In some instances cows must be ac- 

 customed to the smell and taste of distillers' grains before they will 

 take them readily, but later they prove palatable. (282) 



606. Peanut meal; peanut feed. With the great increase in the 

 peanut oil industry, peanut meal from hulled peanuts and peanut feed 

 from unhulled or partially hulled peanuts are coming to be impor- 

 tant dairy feeds, especially in the southern states. (258) These feeds 

 are palatable to cattle and are slightly laxative in their effect. In a 

 trial at the Texas Station 60 Ewing, JRidgway, and Doubt compared 

 peanut feed from partially hulled nuts, containing 38.2 per ct. crude 

 protein and 11.5 per ct. fiber, with choice cottonseed meal. The pea- 

 nut feed did not prove quite so valuable, pound for pound, as the cot- 



M Ky. Cir. 23. 

 M Mass. Bui. 197. 

 "Information to the authors. 

 6 Tex. Bui. 238. 



57 Ga. State Col. Agr. Bui. 159. 

 K Mass. Bui. 94. 

 59 Vt. Rpt 1907. 

 Tex. Bui. 238. 



