28 



It will be noted that the substitution of a small quantity of 

 molasses for an equal quantity of corn made a marked improvement 

 in the appetites of the cattle. This was especially true during the 

 latter part of the feeding period and manifested itself principally 

 in the consumption of silage. The average silage consumption dur- 

 ing the entire period was four pounds daily per steer more when mo- 

 lasses was fed. There was also a slight improvement in the grain 

 consumption when the molasses was used. The total quantity of con- 

 centrates consumed daily per head was 12.26 pounds of corn and 

 cottonseed meal as compared with 12.75 pounds with corn, cot- 

 tonseed meal and molasses. The average daily consumption of 

 silage was 28.64 pounds without the molasses and 32.65 pounds with 

 the molasses. The effect of replacing cottonseed meal with pro- 

 prietary molasses feed did not have any marked influence on the 

 appetites of the cattle. The most decided influence shown was in 

 the increased grain consumption which amounted to one-half pound 

 daily per steer throughout the feeding period. The silage consump- 

 tion was slightly larger but not enough to make any material dif- 

 ference in the results due to proprietary molasses feed. The 

 cattle relished the proprietary molasses feed during the entire feed- 

 ing period and would often pick it from among the shelled corn 

 before the latter was consumed. 



GAINS. Gains made by the cattle are shown in Table XIV. 



TABLE XIV. Showing Average Daily Gain per Steer by Months, 

 December I, 1915^0 April 29, 1916 (150 days) 



Table XIV shows that the most rapid and most consistent gains 

 were made by cattle in Lot 5 receiving a small quantity of molasses 

 in addition to shelled corn, cottonseed meal, clover hay, and corn 

 silage. The average daily gain for this lot of cattle was 2.25 pounds 



