23 



cotton seed meal or bran. If allowed access to this sour or fer- 

 mented feed, the cattle are very apt to be troubled with indigestion. 

 All of these details necessitate great care when self-feeders are used 

 successfully. 



ROUGHAGE USUALLY FED IN UNLIMITED QUANTITIES. 



The evidence is that roughage is usually fed in unlimited quan- 

 tities, less than 12 per cent indicating that they make any pretention 

 to the use of a limited amount. The usual custom is to keep the 

 racks full at all times so that the steers are able to select out the 

 more palatable portions and refuse the remainder. The work of the 

 Station would indicate that fully as 'good results may be secured by 

 limiting the amount of roughage to what the cattle will consume 

 without waste. This is especially true in seasons like that of 1906- 

 07 when roughage was actually worth more per pound than grain. 

 The replies to question 60, show that 91 per cent of the feeders make 

 no effort to have the roughage and grain in such condition that both 

 will be consumed at the same time. This is in line with other state- 

 ments in regard to the cost of producing beef and shows conclusively 

 that the average cattle feeder firmly believes in the practice of feed- 

 ing his farm products in such a way as to avoid labor. That is, he 

 believes that the additional expense due to chaffing hay and mixing 

 it with grain would not be balanced by the difference in the efficiency 

 of the ration. 



GRAIN CONSUMED BY STEERS ON FULL FEED. 



The reports indicate that the average amount of grain consid- 

 ered a full feed per head daily for two-year-old cattle is 22.8 pounds; 

 for yearlings, 15.6 Ibs; and for calves, 4.3 Ibs. The amount given for 

 two-year-olds and yearlings is approximately correct as these figures 

 compare very favorably with results at the Station. It would seem, 

 however, that feeders have underestimated the amount consumed by 

 calves as that reported is small as compared with the data obtained 

 from the experimental lots at the Station for the past two years, 

 which was from 9 to 10 Ibs. daily per calf when on full feed. 



GAINS MORE EXPENSIVE IN WINTER THAN IN SUMMER. 



In reporting on question 57, it was found that twice as many 

 men reported on the amount of grain required per pound of gain on 

 two-year-old cattle as on yearlings and three times as many report 

 on two-year-olds as on calves. This is consistent with the answers 

 to the former question in regard to the age of cattle preferred in the 

 feed lot, and shows that as yet, the great majority of cattle feeders 

 prefer cattle carrying some age. The average of all answers to the 



