530 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



also in southwestern Wisconsin, where the pastures are unusually 

 nutritious. 



The gains on grass alone will commonly be cheaper than where grain 

 is fed in addition, but the cheapness of the gains may be more than offset 

 if the cattle do not reach a good finish and hence are sold as feeders at 

 a price which is low enough to allow the buyer a profit in fitting them 

 for market. Usually not over 10 to 15 Ibs. of corn or other concentrates 

 are fed per head daily to cattle being fattened on pasture, unless it is 

 desired to crowd them for an early market. 



In the northern states the concentrate most commonly fed on pasture 

 is corn, with perhaps a small amount of a protein-rich supplement in 

 addition. In the South, however, quite commonly cottonseed cake or 

 meal is the cheapest concentrate available, and therefore an allowance 

 of 3 to 4 Ibs. per head daily is often fed to cattle on pasture. This 

 materially increases the rate of gains made by the cattle, causes them 

 to reach a higher finish, and enables them to be marketed before the 

 rush of grass-finished cattle occurs. In trials by Ward, Gray, and Lloyd 

 in Alabama and Mississippi, 15 feeding such an allowance of cottonseed 

 cake on pasture usually increased the profit over fattening cattle on 

 pasture alone, without considering the fertility added to the pasture 

 fields by the feeding of the cottonseed cake. 



815. Feeding supplements with corn on grass pasture. Since immature 

 grass, such as is usually eaten by grazing animals, is much richer in 

 protein than grass at the stage when cut for hay, corn and bluegrass 

 pasture alone make a fairly well-balanced ration for the fattening steer. 

 Extensive experiments by Mumford at the Missouri Station 16 show, how- 

 ever, that it is usually advisable to add some protein-rich supplement 

 during the last of the feeding period to keep the steers from going off" 

 feed and making smaller gains. In these trials separate lots of yearlings, 

 2-year-olds, and 3-year-olds were fed corn alone on bluegrass pasture, 

 while other lots were fed a small allowance of linseed meal, cottonseed 

 meal or gluten feed in addition to corn and pasture. Adding a supple- 

 ment slightly increased the rapidity of the gains, especially toward the 

 close of the fattening period. However, the lots fed a supplement re- 

 quired about as much concentrates for 100 Ibs. gain as the steers fed corn 

 alone on pasture. Mumford concluded that it was clearly advisable to 

 feed a supplement during the last stages of fattening, but that the use of a 

 supplement during the first part of the feeding period for cattle fed corn 

 on bluegrass pasture was of doubtful economic value. Obviously, the 

 higher the price of corn compared with the cost of a supplement per ton, 

 the greater is the advantage from its use. Furthermore, it is more 

 profitable to feed a supplement to well-bred cattle which will sell near 

 the top of the market when well finished, than it is in the case of scrub 

 stock which will not bring the best price, no matter how they are fed. 



"U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 777. 

 19 Mo. Bui. 90. 



