THE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



389 



$6.82 on corn, prairie hay and linseed 

 meal; $6.09 on corn, corn stover and lin- 

 seed meal; and $6.04 on corn and al- 

 falfa. A combination of alfalfa hay and 

 corn proved to be exceedingly satisfac- 

 tory. 



In Kentucky, May found that ear 

 corn was preferable to corn meal, pro- 

 vided hogs were allowed to follow the 

 steers. When clover hay was fed with 

 corn, the amount of nitrogenous grain 

 necessary to properly balance the ra- 

 tion was greatly reduced. In rations 

 where supplemental grain feeds were 

 used, dried distillery grains added to 

 the grain ration proved to be the most 

 economic feed. 



In Kansas, Cottrell carried on some 

 experiments to compare the value of 

 shelled corn and corn meal. The daily 

 gain for each steer was somewhat 

 greater in those fed corn meal. During 

 a feeding period of the ordinary length, 

 steers on ground corn gained 23 poundb 

 a head more than those fed whole corn, 

 and required 62 pounds less grain and 

 25 pounds less hay for each 100 pounds 

 of gain. It appears from these experi- 

 ments that 8.2 pounds of beef may be 

 produced from each bushel of corn. 



Many other experiments have been 

 carried on for the purpose of determin- 

 ing the relative value of dry and soaked 

 corn, and to compare unhusked ears, 

 corn in the ear, whole shelled corn and 

 corn meal. There is less corn in the 

 droppings of steers when the corn is fed 

 soaked than when fed dry. If it costs 

 more than 6 cents per bushel to soak 

 the corn, however, it will not pay. In 

 ordinary cases, where the stock breeder 

 raises his own corn, he cannot afford 

 to expend any labor on it after it is 

 mature. It should, therefore, be fed in 

 the ear, without husking. In that form 

 it is nearly as effective as corn meal, 

 and the cost of husking, grinding and 

 handling is saved. Moreover, if hogs 

 are allowed to follow steers in the feed 

 lot, all of the undigested corn is picked 

 up and utilized by the hogs. About 

 15 per cent of the whole corn passes 

 through the intestines in the manure 

 and 6!/2 per cent of the corn meal. 

 Nearly all of the whole corn can be util- 

 ized by pigs, but practically none of the 

 corn meal. In a feeding experiment at 

 the Minnesota experiment station it was 

 found that steers would eat much more 

 corn meal than they could digest and 

 that it was thus wasted. 



Cottonseed meal is the most impor- 

 tant nitrogenous grain feed for steers 

 throughout the southern states and 

 wherever it may be obtained at a rea- 

 sonable price. It is superior, pound for 

 pound, to all other grain feeds in ef- 

 fectiveness for beef production. Cot- 

 tonseed may be fed raw, boiled, roasted, 

 ground or whole. It may be used as the 

 only concentrated feed in a ration, or, 

 better still, with corn, kafir corn or 

 some other carbonaceous feed. Neither 

 cottonseed nor cottonseed meal is a safe 

 feed if allowed to become rancid or dark 

 colored. The meal should be perfectly 

 fresh and of a bright, yellow color. Cot- 

 tonseed may be used as a complete ra- 

 tion for steers, the mpa! constituting the 

 concentrated part of the ration and the 

 hulls serving as a coarse fodder. These 

 materials have been mixed in a commer- 

 cial feed known as cottonseed feed, 

 and as sold on the market is supposed to 

 contain four parts hulls and one part 

 meal. 



In Iowa, satisfactory results have 

 been obtained from the use of cottonseed 

 meal, when it was gradually increased 

 from 1-5 of a pound to 1.4 pounds 

 daily. In Illinois, about 7 per cent of 

 the beef raisers use cottonseed meal. 

 The largest amount of this substance 

 used by any feeder, as reported in re- 

 plies to a circular letter, is 9 pounds 

 daily, and the smallest amount 1 pound, 

 with an average of 4 pounds. No un- 

 favorable report was made by Illinois 

 feeders on the use of cottonseed meal; 

 on the contrary they report that it 

 causes more rapid gains, quicker finish 

 and gives a smoother form to the steers 

 than the corn and roughage alone. When 

 corn is high, cottonseed meal appears 

 to be even more economical than corn. 



In Mississippi, Lloyd found that the 

 shrinkage in steers fed shelled corn, cot- 

 tonseed meal and sorghum hay for a pe- 

 riod of 120 days was 37 pounds to the 

 animal, while the steers dressed 59 per 

 cent. Cottonseed meal produced a fine 

 quality of meat and proved to be a 

 profitable feed. 



In Oklahoma, Burtis found that 

 where cottonseed is to be used in the fat- 

 tening ration for cattle, the maximum 

 amount should be 8 pounds a day, and 

 that 4 to 6 pounds is more satisfactory. 

 It is desirable to mix the cottonseed 

 meal with some other grain in order to 



