STEER FEEDING EXPERIMENTS 267 



Table V is presented to show the average amount of feed con- 

 sumed daily per steer during each feeding period. It also shows 

 the amount of air-dry matter consumed daily per steer, the average 

 daily gain per steer, the air-dry matter required to make one pound 

 of gain, the cost per pound of gain, and the daily cost of feed for 

 each steer at the prices charged. During the first period, Lot I 

 consumed the greatest amount of air-dry matter per head daily, re- 

 quiring 21.482 pounds. For Lot II, there were required 17.352 

 pounds; for Lot III, 16.852 pounds; for Lot IV, 16.498 pounds; and 

 for Lot V, 17.671 pounds. Lot I, receiving no silage in the ration, 

 consumed 4.98 pounds more air-dry matter per day than the lowest 

 lot receiving silage. 



The air-dry matter required to make a pound of gain was also 

 greatest in Lot I. It required 12.553 pounds to produce a pound oi 

 gain for Lot I, as compared with 9.254 pounds' for Lot II; 11.268 

 pounds for Lot III; 10.165 pounds for Lot IV; and 10.666 pounds 

 for Lot V. This would seem to indicate that the ration fed Lot I 

 for the first period was not as efficient as the rations of the silage- 

 fed lots. This conclusion is in keeping with previous experiments 

 which show that silage added to the ration will render the feeds 

 more digestible. The greater amount of air-dry matter consumed 

 daily by Lot I is also due to the more concentrated grain feed 

 which was not used for the other four lots. 



A marked difference in the lots is noted for the first period 

 when the feed cost of producing one pound of gain and the 

 daily cost of feed are compared. The cost of producing a pound of 

 gain in Lot I is n.8 cents, as compared with 6.524 cents for Lot 

 II, in which the cheapest gains were made. The second highest 

 cost is 8.91 cents for Lot V, for which both alfalfa hay and cotton- 

 seed meal formed a part of the ration. The daily cost of feed per 

 steer per day was also greatest in Lot I, being 20.19 cents; Lot 11, 

 12.23 cents; Lot III, 10.70 cents; Lot IV, 13.24 cents; and Lot V, 

 13.73 cents per day. 



The feeding of expensive grains and no silage in Lot I made the 

 daily cost of feed very much higher than that of any of the other 

 lots. It also showed that a ration of corn stover, mixed hay, corn, 

 and wheat bran is inefficient, as compared with a ration made up 

 largely of roughage during the early feeding period in which silage 

 is the main roughage. The daily cost of feed was lowest in Lot III 



