STEER FEEDING. 5 



in respect to conformation, quality, and condition, all lots were quite 

 uniform at the beginning of the test. 



Except in the case of Lot 5, which was provided with a shed 14x36 

 feet, open on the south side, the pens in which the steers were confined 

 and fed were equal in all respects. They were 60x100 feet each in 

 area and entirely unprotected from the weather. Each was provided 

 with a- galvanized iron water trough in which water from a deep well 

 was kept before the cattle at all times. Granular salt was kept in a 

 small trough in the corner of each pen so that the cattle had free 

 access to it throughout the test. 



The five lots were fed as follows: 



Lot 1. Cotton seed meal and silage. 



Lot 2. Cold pressed cotton seed and silage. 



Lot 3. Cotton seed meal, silage, and rice bran. 



Lot 4. Cotton seed meal, silage, and ground milo heads. 



Lot 5. Cotton seed meal and silage with shelter. 



Shoats were placed in the pens with Lot 3, which received rice bran, 

 and with Lot 4, which received ground milo heads. 



The cattle were fed regularly twice daily, early in the morning and 

 late in the afternoon, and the feeds composing each ration were carefully 

 weighed and thoroughly mixed together in the feed troughs. 



Weights of each lot were obtained every day for three successive days, 

 both at the beginning and at the end of the experiment, and the initial 

 and final weights, herein recorded, are the average of the three initial 

 and the three final weights, respectively. Each lot was weighed once 

 every thirty days. The weighing was always done between 10 and 11 

 o'clock A. M. 



THE FEEDING TEST. 



The test covered a period of 140 days, from the evening of November 

 12, 1913, to the morning of April 1, 1914. The average daily rations, 

 after the first two or three days in getting the cattle accustomed to eating, 

 were, for a short period, as follows: 



Lot 1. 3 pounds cotton seed meal, 40 pounds corn silage. 



Lot 2. 6 pounds cold pressed cotton seed, 40 pounds corn silage. 



Lot 3. 3 pounds cotton seed meal, 40 pounds corn silage, 4 pounds 

 rice bran. 



Lot 4. 3 pounds cotton seed meal, 40 pounds corn silage, 5 pounds 

 ground milo heads. 



Lot 5. Shelter, 3 pounds cotton seed meal, 40 pounds corn silage. 



All of the cattle eating well, the silage, within a few days from the 

 start, was rapidly increased to as much as would be cleaned up. The 

 concentrates, cotton seed meal, cold pressed cotton seed, rice bran, and 

 ground milo heads, were, of course, increased more slowly. None of 

 the cattle were "off feed" at any time during the test, nor were there 

 any of them affected with scours, except in the case of Lot 3, a few of 

 which scoured for a day or two on one occasion when they seemed to 



