when combined with cowpea hay produced 622 pounds of 

 gain, whereas the steers without the grain and eating all the 

 cowpea hay they would, made a gain of 228 pounds, The 

 average daily gain for four pounds of corn and cowpea hay 

 was 1.54, and for cowpea hay alone was .56. 



Considering the winter period of feeding alone, and 

 disregarding entirely the behavior of the cattle in the fol- 

 lowing summer on grass, or assuming that they would gain 

 equally well the following summer, it paid handsomely to 

 add corn to the ration, even though the steers went through 

 the winter in a thrifty condition and made a fair gain on the. 

 hay alone. That is to say, the difference between the gain 

 of the two lots was 394 pounds. The difference in the feed 

 was 28.8 bushels of corn. To state the case absolutely accu- 

 rately, the lot of cattle having the corn were offered 310 

 pounds less hay, worth, at the current market price, ap- 

 proximately $1.00. Disregarding this, however, we have an 

 extra gain of 394 pounds, worth, at 5c a pound, $19.70, 

 which may be fairly attributed to the use of 28.8 bushels of 

 corn. This means that the corn brought practically 70c a 

 bushel, as compared with the returns from feeding the hay 

 without grain. 



Stating the case differently the cost per 100 Ibs. of gain 

 was $5.71 on corn and cowpea hay and $10.94 or almost 

 double on the hay ration alone. Here, as in general, when 

 the ration is made nutritious enough to insure large or rapid 

 gains the cost of the gain is reduced and vice versa. This 

 as has already been pointed out appears true even when 

 coarse and so-called cheap fodders are used for the small 

 gains and the larger gains are made from the socalled high 

 priced grains. 



It is interesting to note that the steers gained almost as 

 much, however, on cowpeas alone as did those having 4 Ibs. 

 of shelled corn and a full ration of good timothy hay, the 

 gain for cowpea hay alone being 228 Ibs. per lot and for 

 corn and timothy 262 Ibs. 



