CHAPTER XXVII 



FEEDS FOR BEEF CATTLE 



I. CARBONACEOUS CONCENTRATES 



732. Indian corn. Of all the concentrates, Indian corn is and will 

 continue to be the great fattening feed for cattle in the United States. 

 It excels not only because of its richness in starch and oil, but also 

 because no other concentrate is so palatable to cattle. (201-6) Numerous 

 trials have clearly shown, however, that corn is too low in protein, even 

 for fattening animals, and should therefore be fed with legume hay or 

 else with some protein-rich concentrate, such as linseed meal or cotton- 

 seed meal, when only carbonaceous roughages, such as hay from the 

 grasses or corn or sorghum forage, are used. , 



The value of legume hay for supplementing corn is shown in the follow- 

 ing table, which summarizes the results of 8 trials, 1 averaging 144 days 

 in length, where corn was fed with carbonaceous roughage, such as 

 timothy hay, prairie hay, corn stover or kafir stover, to one lot of 2 or 3- 

 year-old steers, while corn and clover or alfalfa hay were fed to a second 

 lot. 



Legume hay as a supplement to corn 



Feed for 100 Ibs. gain 



Average ration Initial Daily Concen- Rough- 



weight gain trates age 



Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. 



Lot 7, unbalanced ration 

 Corn, 15.2 Ibs. 



Carbonaceous roughage, 13.0 Ibs... 959 1.7 930 832 



Lot II j balanced ration 

 Corn, 15.4 Ibs. 

 Legume hay, 13.2 Ibs 952 2.3 689 575 



While the steers in Lot II, fed corn and legume hay, gained 2.3 Ibs. per 

 head daily, those in Lot I, getting the unbalanced ration of corn and 

 carbonaceous roughage, gained only 1.7 Ibs., and required 35 per ct. 

 more corn and 44 per ct. more roughage for 100 Ibs. gain than the others. 

 The table on the next page shows clearly the importance of adding 

 some protein-rich concentrate to balance the ration, when corn is fed with 

 carbonaceous roughage. This' summarizes the results of 4 trials, 2 averag- 

 ing 132 days, in which one lot of steers was fed only corn and carbon- 

 Average of 1 trial by Haney (Kan. Bui. 132), 2 by Burtis (Okla. Rpts. 1900, 

 1901), 1 by Mumford (111. Bui. 83), 2 by Skinner and Cochel (Ind. Buls. 115, 129), 

 and 2 by Smith (Nebr. Buls. 90, 93.) 



2 Average of 1 trial by Mumford (111. Bui. 83), 1 by Skinner and Cochel (Ind. 

 Bui. 115), and 2 by Smith (Nebr. Buls. 90, 93). 



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