246 A STUDY OF FARM ANIMALS 



This table brings out several facts of interest. As we 

 might suppose, with increase of weight in growing fatten- 

 ing cattle comes an increased demand for nutrients, with the 

 nutritive ratio very slightly widening from 400 to 1,000 

 pounds. On the basis of 1 ,000 pounds weight, however, there 

 is a steady decrease in requirements of nutrients. In the 

 case of the two-year-old fattening steer from the first to 

 the third fattening periods, we note also a marked decrease 

 in amounts of dry matter, protein, and total nutrients neces- 

 sary, but with a constant nutritive ratio. The ox at rest 

 in a stall or the breeding cow going through the winter in 

 calf calls for a wide nutritive ratio and a comparatively 

 small amount of protein and total nutrients. 



The feeding of breeding beef cows is a comparatively 

 simple matter. They should be kept in moderate flesh, but 

 not allowed to become fat. Economical management re- 

 quires the extensive use of roughage, pasture, forage crops 

 and silage, with a light feed of grain except when nursing a 

 good-sized, vigorous calf. If one has plenty of legume 

 roughage, such as alfalfa or clover, it will be much relished, 

 and with a very small grain portion will furnish most desir- 

 able feed. At the Illinois Experiment Station ten cows were 

 fed 140 days during the winter on a daily ration of about 8 

 pounds of shock corn, (containing about 50 per cent ears), 

 about 11 pounds of oat straw, and 3J/2 pounds of clover hay, 

 and gained 106 pounds per head. At the Pennsylvania sta- 

 tion extensive experiments on the use of corn silage for beef 

 cattle has shown that breeding beef cows can be maintained 

 in good condition on a ration of silage to suit the appetite, 

 with 1 pound of cottonseed meal per day. At the Wyoming 

 station breeding cows showed an average gain per week of 

 2j/ pounds when fed 140 days on 10 pounds of alfalfa hay 

 and 15 pounds of oats and pea silage, and no grain. When 

 on good pasture grain need not be fed cows, except in hot 

 weather. When flies are biting hard, some grain may be 



