horn cows throughout the remainder of the winter, with less than 

 i% waste. During the latter part of February, however, the An- 

 gus cows refused to eat. the full allowance, although they were in- 

 creasing in weight and some of them were suckling calves. This 

 result confirms that of preceding tests at this station with steers 

 fed largely on roughage, when thin they will make very rapid 

 gains, but as they improve in condition, their consumption of feed 

 decreases, finally reaching a point where the appetite for roughage 

 is only sufficient for maintenance. It is probable that a decrease 

 in food consumption would also have been noted in the Shorthorn 

 lot if the test had been continued through a longer period of time. 

 At the close of the test, both lots of cows were turned on pasture 

 without grain and had made slight gains after two months of 

 grazing, at which time this report was written. 



As beef cattle are maintained largely for the purpose of pro- 

 ducing manure to be used in increasing the yield of crops, a record 

 of the amount of bedding and manure produced in the Shorthorn 

 lot was secured. During the 140 day feeding period, 9851 pounds 

 of straw were used in bedding the ten cows, and from this lot 88,405 

 pounds of manure were removed. It would require, under these 

 conditions, the straw from approximately one acre of small grain to 

 bed each individual and this would result in the production of 8,840 

 pounds of manure. A larger amount of straw could have been util- 

 ized to advantage where cows were closely confined as in this test, 

 though under farm conditions where the cows were permitted to run 

 in pasture during suitable weather, the required amount of bedding 

 could be materially reduced. 



Summary of Experiment in Wintering Twenty Beef Breeding Cows. 



Length of experiment : 140 days 



Initial weight of 20 cows 21,438.7 Ibs. 



Final weight of 20 cows 24,729.66 



Total gain 3,290.84 



Average daily gain per cow 1.17 



Total feed consumed 



Corn silage 16,039.75 



Cottonseed meal 2,800.00 



Average daily feed per cow 



Corn silage 57.64 



Cottonseed meal 1.00 



Cost of feeding 20 cows 



Corn silage @ $3.50 per ton $280.69 



Cottonseed meal @ $30.00 per ton 42.00 



Total $322.69 



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