Cattle Feeding Experiments. 21 



INFERENCES FROM THE 1904-05 EXPERIMENT. 



1. When the ration consisted of corn and prairie hay, the 

 amount of grain required for each pound of gain was lessened 

 five per cent by adding oil-meal to the grain ration. 



The cost of producing a pound of gain was not lessened by 

 the addition of oil-meal, but a better finish was secured, 

 which caused the cattle to sell for 15 cents more per hundred, 

 making a profit of $1.09 per head where a loss of $1.13 re- 

 sulted from feeding corn and prairie hay only. 



The cattle returned a value of $35 per ton for the oil-meal 

 fed, with corn worth 39 cents per bushel. 



2. Alfalfa is much superior to prairie hay when the grain 

 consists of corn alone. It also proved to be a cheaper source 

 of protein than oil-meal. The returns on the cattle fed al- 

 falfa hay, were the alfalfa figured at $11.14 per ton, would 

 have been as great as the returns on prairie hay at $6 per ton, 

 with corn as the grain ration at 39 cents per bushel. In com- 

 parison with prairie hay at $6 when oil-meal worth $28 per 

 ton was a part of the grain ration, the alfalfa returned a 

 value of $8.28 per ton. 



3. Bright, well-cured corn-stover fed with an equal weight 

 of alfalfa, the grain consisting of corn alone, gave slightly 

 larger gains than corn and alfalfa, and proved the most eco- 

 nomical ration in the experiment. The addition of corn- 

 stover may have improved to some extent the corn and alfalfa 

 ration by furnishing greater variety and by its tendency to 

 check scours sometimes caused by alfalfa. The stover fed 

 with alfalfa returned a value of $4.57 per ton in comparison 

 with alfalfa at $6 per ton as the sole roughness. 



4. The ration given Lot 1, corn and prairie hay, with a nu- 

 tritive ratio of 1 :10.2, was too low in protein for large gains. 

 However, the fact that corn, alfalfa, and stover, with a nu- 

 tritive ratio of 1 :8.4, gave a little larger gain for food con- 

 sumed than corn and alfalfa (1:7.4), is additional proof of 

 the correctness of the "American idea" that the old and ac- 



