INTRODUCTION 



The past few years have witnessed a great awakening of in- 

 terest in agricultural problems of all kinds and especially in 

 those relating to the conservation of soil fertility and permanent 

 systems of farming. The study of these problems has resulted in 

 an increasing tendency among the most progressive farmers to 

 market a part, at least, of their crops through live stock and thus 

 retain as large a per cent, of the fertility as possible upon the farm. 

 This tendency brought them early face to face with the problem 

 of developing some efficient method of utilizing, through live stock, 

 the fodder and other roughages produced. The result is a more 

 general appreciation of the importance of the part which cattle feed- 

 ing, as a means of utilizing the roughage, must take in future systems 

 of farm management. 



One of the greatest losses on the farm is due to the lack of 

 proper utilization of roughage incidental to grain production. It 

 is impossible to produce grain without also producing large amounts 

 of roughage. Since cattle are pre-eminently the most satisfactory 

 animals to consume large quantities of roughage, the solution of 

 the roughage problem lies largely with this class of stock, and with 

 it rests the real value of the roughage grown on the farm. Cattle 

 feeding is coming more and more to be considered as a means of 

 marketing grain, conserving soil fertility, and completely utilizing 

 the roughage produced on the farm rather than a means of commer- 

 cial speculation. The work of the Experiment Station with beef cat- 

 tle has been conducted with the intention of meeting the demands of 

 practical feeders for information regarding the most efficient meth- 

 ods of feeding the crops produced on the farm and especially the 

 utilization of the various kinds of roughage. 



MARKET CONDITIONS. The conditions of the live stock market 

 during the time covered by the feeding trials reported in this bulletin 

 have been rather unusual. At the outset of the 1909-10 season, 

 feeders were confronted with the problem of feeding high-priced 

 corn to high-priced steers. The butchers were competing with the 

 country buyers for the fleshier kinds and the prices of feeders were 

 forced to a very high level. Indiana pastures, too, were short and 

 the native feeders were not only high priced but thin. These con- 

 ditions, coupled with the scarcity of clover hay, made the prospect 

 rather gloomy, but owing to the very strong demand for all kinds 

 of meat which prevailed during the winter of 1909-10 and the spring 

 following, fat cattle marketed during that period, sold at a good 

 margin over cost of feeders and where fed judiciously, returned a 

 large profit on the investment. The season of 1910-11 began under 

 somewhat different conditions. The unusually large corn crop in 1910 

 and the abundance of feed throughout the great feeding sections of 

 the country created such a demand for all classes of feeding stock 



