STEER FEEDING 



BY 



JOHN C. BURNS, B. S., ANIMAL HUSBANDMAN, FEEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 



OBJECT OP EXPERIMENT. 



The object in view in conducting this experiment was as follows: 



1. To compare cotton seed meal and cold pressed cotton seed in 

 supplementing silage for fattening cattle. 



2. To determine the advisability of supplementing cotton seed meal 

 and silage with grain for fattening cattle. 



3. To compare rice bran and ground milo heads in supplementing 

 cotton seed meal and silage for fattening cattle. 



4. To determine the value of shelter in fattening cattle. 



CATTLE USED. 



The cattle used were sixty high grade, range bred, two-year-old Here- 

 ford steers, purchased from Mr. J. E. Boog-Scott, Coleman, Texas. 

 They were quite a uniform lot, very good in quality, but rather thin 

 in condition when they arrived at College Station September 27, 1913. 

 The following morning, having had access to water and hay through 

 the night, they averaged 703 pounds. Based on this weight, they cost 

 us, delivered, $6.50 a hundredweight or $45.70 a head. From Septem- 

 ber 28 to November 10, a period of 43 days, they were carried on pas- 

 ture only, the cost of which, figured at 25 cents a head a month, was 

 36 cents a head. November 10, they were divided into five lots of 

 twelve each, and from the evening of that day until the morning of 

 November 12, all lots were confined in the pens in which the experi- 

 ment was conducted and fed alike on corn silage. The amount of silage 

 consumed during this brief period was 72 pounds a head, which, at 

 $3.00 a ton, cost 11 cents. 



The weight of the cattle November 12, J;he date of the beginning of 

 the experiment, showed that they averaged 763 pounds, which meant a 

 gain of 60 pounds a head since September 28. The cattle had cost us 

 to this time, including initial cost and value of pasture and silage, 

 $46.17 a head. Therefore, the cost per hundredweight at this time 

 was $6.05. 



PEEDS USED. 



All feeds used were of good quality, but no better than can ordinarily 

 be obtained by feeders generally. Samples were submitted to the Chem- 

 istry Division of the Experiment Station for analysis and their reports 

 show that the average composition of each feed was as follows : 



