1892. J PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 107 



II. 



FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH STEERS. 



The question of a remunerative production of beef for the 

 meat market, upon the farms of New England, has, for 

 several years past, received a deserved attention at the 

 Massachusetts State Agricultural Experiment Station, by 

 carrying on feeding experiments, under well-defined circum- 

 stances, with growing steers. The results of observations in 

 that direction during two preceding years are ready for publi- 

 cation. The work is to be continued with such modifications 

 as suggest themselves during its progress, and the con- 

 clusions arrived at will be published hereafter, whenever 

 they are found to be of a more general interest to the 

 farming community. 



The first experiment, December, 1889, to May, 1890, 

 briefly described upon a few succeeding pages, was planned 

 mainly with a view to determine the cost of the feed required 

 for the production of beef for the meat market under exist- 

 ing local conditions, and with special reference to the con- 

 temporary local market price of the fodder articles at our 

 disposal. 



Current home-raised fodder articles, as fodder corn, 

 corn stover, corn ensilage and sugar beets, served as coarse 

 feed, while corn and cob meal, wheat bran, old-process 

 linseed meal and gluten meal furnished the grain feed for 

 daily diet of the animals on trial. The stated amount of 

 grain feed was in each case a fixed quantity, while the con- 

 sumption of coarse feed was governed by the appetite of the 

 animal. 



