Miscellaneous Feeding Stuffs. 205 



stituted for a part of the wet pulp, so that 6 weeks prior to the close 

 of the feeding period no pulp is fed, but concentrates instead. 1 Be- 

 cause the beet pulp ferments quickly it is usually sour when fed. 

 Fortunately the soured pulp is best liked by stock. 



310. Beet pulp silage. Maercker 2 found that, owing to fermenta- 

 tion, ensiled wet beet pulp lost rather more than one-fourth of its 

 total nutrients. Such heavy losses teach that, where possible, the 

 pulp should be dried. Where it cannot be dried it may be ensiled 

 the same as corn forage. It keeps quite well if merely piled in large 

 heaps, as the outside mass on rotting protects the interior. The pulp 

 may be better preserved, with or without alternate layers of beet 

 leaves, in shallow, well-drained pits dug in the earth. The pitted 

 mass, extending several feet above ground, should be covered with 

 straw and earth to keep out air and frost. (360) 



Steers are annually fattened by thousands and sheep by ten-thou- 

 sands on wet soured beet pulp at the western beet sugar factories. 

 Owing to the high prices of concentrates, and the favor with which 

 the dried pulp is being received by stockmen, the factories are grad- 

 ually being equipped for drying the pulp. (541, 644, 759) 



311. Dried beet pulp. Dried beet pulp is now a by-product of 

 large volume and of increasing importance. Shaw of the Michigan 

 Station 3 found that dried beet pulp compared favorably with corn 

 meal for fattening sheep and steers. It produced larger gains with 

 growing animals, while corn meal put on more rapid gain with fat- 

 tening animals nearing the finishing period. From German inves- 

 tigations Ware 4 concludes that 1 Ib. of dried pulp is equal to 8 Ibs. 

 of wet pulp in feeding value. The New Jersey Station 5 secured the 

 best results by softening the dried pulp with water before feeding 

 to dairy cows. (542, 645, 755) 



312. Beet molasses. The molasses of the beet sugar factories is a 

 bitter, purging substance containing considerable nitrogenous mat- 

 ter of low nutritive value, together with a large amount of sugar and 

 alkaline mineral matters. European investigators have taxed their 

 ingenuity to utilize beet molasses for feeding farm animals. As one 

 result, it has been found possible to combine molasses with peat dug 

 from the marshes. The dried peat neutralizes the alkali of the mo- 

 lasses and renders it harmless to animals. Clausen and Friderichsen 6 



1 Loc. cit. 



2 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Chem., Bui. 52. , 



3 Buls. 220, 247. 



* Cattle Feeding with Sugar Beets, Sugar and Molasses, etc. 



8 Bui. 189. 



6 New Rational Method for the Utilization of Blood, Copenhagen, 1896. 



