4 Cattle Feeding Experiments. 



proportion should be cattle or sheep, as with these animals 

 we would naturally grow more clover and alfalfa, which crops 

 add nitrogen to our soil, thus replenishing it, and we would 

 also be able to utilize much more of 'the roughage which is 

 grown on the farm as a by-product, notably cornstalks, con- 

 verting such material into cash. On our present high priced 

 land, it is necessary for us to make use of the by-products if 

 we wish to secure a fair rate of interest, as rental, on our 

 land capitalization. 



A few years ago when corn was extremely low in price, it 

 was used to the exclusion of quite everything else for fatten- 

 ing purposes, which was no doubt proper from a commercial 

 point of view because of its relative cheapness. Cattle were 

 fattened on corn and anything which would serve as a filler 

 to gratify the appetites of ruminants for bulk, usually straw 

 of some kind or prairie hay. Tho the increased demand 

 for corn both at home and abroad has forced upward the mar- 

 ket value of this cereal, it is still our cheapest source of con- 

 centrated nutriment, and it will continue in use as the basic 

 part of our fattening rations. But corn must no longer be 

 our sole dependence. As market conditions change, methods 

 must change. We can not now afford to feed it in a manner 



O 



that will permit the waste of a large part of the surplus 

 starch (fat-making material) contained within the kernel, as 

 has been done in the past. Rather, we must supplement it 

 with some food which contains protein (the flesh-making ma- 

 terial) in excess, that the combination may supply the nutri- 

 ents in a proportion that more nearly meets the demands of 

 the animal system, thus making possible a more complete 

 utilization of the ration and a larger increase from a given 

 weight of food, cost being duly considered. 



Further, high-priced corn makes it desirable to depend 

 more upon rough feed, especially for cattle and sheep, ani- 

 mals which are by nature adapted to use such food in liberal 

 quantity, even tho that practice requires a longer feeding 



