FEEDING BABY BEEVES. 



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

 INVESTIGATIONS. 



OBJECTS OF EXPERIMENT. 



In the conducting of this experiment the following objects were kept 

 in view: 



1. To gain as much information as possible pertaining to the fatten- 

 ing of calves for the market, or, in other words, the production of 

 "baby beef." 



2. To compare cotton seed meal, cold-pressed cotton seed, and peanut 

 meal for supplementing a ration composed of ground milo, corn or 

 sorghum silage, and Sudan hay for fattening cattle. 



3. To compare the feeding values of Sudan hay and cotton seed 

 hulls. 



THE CALVES. 



Forty-eight high-grade Aberdeen-Angus steer calves were used in the 

 experiment. These were purchased from Mr. G-. 0. Cresswell of Oplin, 

 Callahan County, Texas, and were the "tops" of his 1915 calf crop. 

 They were quite uniform and, as a whole, a choice lot of feeders. Being, 

 for the most part, March and April calves they were from six to eight 

 months old when on November 2 they were weaned and shipped to 

 College Station. They arrived here November 4, and weighed before 

 receiving any fill, 411 pounds, as an average. They cost f. o. b., 

 Novice, Texas, $31.25 per head. The freight from that place to College 

 Station amounted to 93^ cents per head; thus the calves cost, delivered 

 here, $32.1 8 1 each. 



PRELIMINARY FEEDING. 



The experiment was not begun immediately, and the calves were fed 

 together from the day they arrived until December 13, their ration 

 consisting of cold-pressed cotton seed, ground milo, corn silage, and 

 Sudan hay. There was no trouble whatever in getting them on feed. 

 After the first few days they were fed all the roughage (silage and hay) 

 they would eat, but the amount of concentrates (cake and milo) was 

 kept low until after the experiment started. 



On December 12 and for several days previous, the ration per head 

 daily was 2 pounds cold-pressed cotton seed, 2 pounds ground milo, 14 

 pounds silage, and 3 pounds Sudan hay. 



On December 13 the calves were divided into four lots of twelve each, 

 the effort being made to have the lots as similar to each other as 

 possible with respect to weight, conformation, quality, and condition. 



