58 



N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



some sections of the State, that water and salt should be supplied at 

 certain intervals during the day or week. A practice of this kind is sure 

 to result in trouble in a large number of cases. If the steers are given 

 free access to these necessities they will rarely if ever take more than 

 needed. 



Available Feeds. 



The feeds which are available in the State, from an economical stand- 

 point, are cottonseed meal, corn stover, corn silage, and cottonseed hulls. 

 In certain instances, varying with local conditions, other roughages may 

 be used but their importance in cattle feeding is limited. For example, 

 cowpea hay is a standard feed, but the price is prohibitive for fattening 

 beef cattle. In feeding dairy cattle this feed may be used because of the 

 larger and more profitable returns. 



Cottonseed meal without doubt will form the main concentrated 

 feed for fattening cattle. It is the only concentrate produced in. suffi- 

 cient quantities at a price which will justify the cattle feeder in using it. 



Corn stover and corn silage may be produced on the farm in quanti- 

 ties sufficient to fatten many more cattle than are now annually fed. 

 They are both well adapted to feed with cottonseed meal because of 

 their carbonaceous nature. Better use should be made of these feeds, 

 considering the price at which they can be produced as compared with 

 the market price of cottonseed hulls. While the latter gives very satis- 

 factory results, the fact should not be lost sight of that the farmers of 

 this State allow large quantities of corn stover to waste which can be 

 used to equal or better advantage than the hulls for feeding beef cattle. 



FIG. 5. This steer will grade as a fair feeder, although more weight in the 

 rear quarters would be desirable. A steer of this type will fatten readily 

 and finish smoothly. 



Likewise corn silage which has produced such satisfactory results in 

 the experimental work at this Station should be more widely used. In the 

 Northern and Western States this feed is rapidly finding a place in the 



