FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH BEEF CATTLE. 



37 



The average daily gains made by lots 1 and 2 were practically the 

 same. It will be noticed in table 4, comparing the results of the two years 

 work, that it took less cottonseed meal to produce a pound of. gain on 

 cattle when fed with cottonseed hulls than when fed with corn silage 

 or corn silage and corn stover combined. The cost per pound of gain 

 is very high, which is accounted for first, by the class of steers fed, and 

 second, by the high cost of the cottonseed meal and hulls. If these 



FIG. 5 Steers fed cottonseed meal, corn stover and corn silage in 1910-1911. 



results are compared with the cost of gains on steers fattened in the 

 corn belt it will be seen that the figures given in the table are very high. 

 If the average daily gains are compared it will be found that the steers 

 used in these experiments made approximately one-half the daily gains 

 made by the class of cattle ordinarily used in the corn belt. It is evident, 

 however, that if cottonseed meal remains at its present price, the cost of 

 fattening steers will necessarily be high. This will necessitate a margin 



FIG. 6 Sirloin, round and porterhouse cuts from steers fed cottonseed meal, corn stover 

 and corn silage in 1910-1911. 



of at least $1.50 per hundred pounds live weight to assure feeders satis- 

 factory results. It is possible, however, to reduce the cost of gains to a 

 considerable extent by using a grade of steers which will take on larger 

 daily gains. 



During the first year the steers were all sold at the same price. Even 

 under these conditions, however, it will be seen that the steers fed corn 

 silage made a larger individual profit than any of the other lots, either 

 the first or second year. While the steers were all sold at the same price 



