480 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



those fed molasses, due to the fact that at that time the price of corn was 

 over one-fourth more than that of molasses per ton. From these trials we 

 may conclude that it is usually not profitable to feed as heavy an allow- 

 ance of molasses as 5 to 6 Ibs. unless it can be secured considerably below 

 the price of corn on the farm. 



Even when molasses is as high or even higher in price than corn, the 

 use of 1 to 3 Ibs. per head daily, diluted and poured over the silage or 

 other roughage, may be economical, in order to induce the cattle to eat 

 more roughage. In 2 trials by Skinner and King at the Indiana Station 46 

 and in a trial by Evvard and Culbertson at the Iowa Station, 47 feeding 

 2 to 3 Ibs. of molasses per head daily on the corn silage increased the 

 gain slightly compared with steers fed corn silage, clover hay, corn and 

 linseed or cottonseed meal. The molasses produced a slightly better 

 finish on the steers and in each trial was worth more per ton than shelled 

 corn. 



The use of beet molasses is greatly increasing in the beet-sugar districts. 

 (277) It is spread over hay or cut straw, either undiluted or thinned 

 with water. Owing to its laxative effect, not more than 4 to 8 Ibs. of beet 

 molasses should be fed per head daily to fattening cattle. When fed in 

 limited amounts beet molasses is worth about as much as cane molasses 

 for fattening cattle. In the trials previously referred to at the Iowa 

 Station beet and cane molasses were compared, various allowances up 

 to 5 Ibs. per head daily being fed. One year the results were slightly in 

 favor of cane molasses but the next year the reverse was true. 



Molasses feeds of many different brands are now on the market, many 

 being especially compounded for fattening cattle. (281) In trials at the 

 Indiana, Iowa, and Nebraska Stations 48 various brands of proprietary 

 molasses feeds have been compared with the standard and highly satis- 

 factory corn belt ration consisting of shelled corn, corn silage, legume 

 hay, and enough linseed or cottonseed meal to balance it. The results of 

 these trials all agree in showing that while the better grades of these 

 feeds are satisfactory for fattening cattle, when molasses feeds are sub- 

 stituted for corn, the gain is decreased rather than increased, and also 

 more feed is required for 100 Ibs. gain. In sections where corn is high in 

 price compared with such feeds, they may be very economical, but in 

 these trials at corn-belt stations the profit was greater without the 

 molasses feeds, except in one trial at the Nebraska Station conducted in 

 1919, when corn was considerably higher in price than the molasses 

 feed. Molasses feeds are often unwisely fed in place of a protein-rich 

 supplement like linseed or cottonseed meal. 



749. Hominy feed. This corn by-product is fed much less commonly 

 to fattening cattle than it is to dairy cows, but it is an entirely satisf ac- 



"Ind. Buls. 183, 191. 



47 Information to the authors. 



^Evvard and Culbertson, 2 trials, Iowa Station, information to the authors; 

 Skinner and King, 2 trials, Ind. Buls. 183, 191; Gramlich, Nebraska Station, 2 

 trials, information to the authors. 



