TEE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



393 



cottonseed meal ration. From the use 

 of rice polish in rations of 2 to 2V2 

 pounds a clay, no digestive disturbances 

 were noted, and the gain in weight was 

 satisfactory. In fact, when rice polish 

 was substituted for a part of the cotton- 

 seed meal, the cost of the gain was 

 somewhat reduced, and the rate of gain 

 increased. Rice hulls, however, in all 

 experiments in Texas, have proved to be 

 unsatisfactory, whether mixed with cot- 

 tonseed meal, rice bran, molasses or 

 other feeds. 



Eye — In a steer feeding experiment 

 in Idaho, the grain ration for one part 

 of the fattening period consisted of one 

 part chopped rye, one part bran and two 

 parts chopped wheat. The rate of gain 

 during this period was not so good as 

 when chopped wheat was fed without the 

 addition of rye. A number of other 

 variations were made in the combina- 

 tion of rye with different farm grains 

 and it appeared to be an easy matter 

 to use too much rye. The chopped rye 

 was not well relished by the steers. 



Soy bean meal — In Kansas, Cottrell 

 fed soy bean meal to steers by scattering 

 the meal over other grain in the feed 

 boxes. At the beginning of the feeding 

 period, the soy bean meal was given in 

 rations of ^ pound a day, but this 

 quantity was slowly increased, until 

 after 10 days the steers received 4 

 pounds a head daily and the corn ration 

 was slightly reduced. The soy bean 

 meal, however, proved to be too laxative 

 and the ration was reduced again to 1 

 pound a day. As soon as the digestive 

 disturbances were corrected, an attempt 

 was made to increase the ration again, 

 but with unsatisfactory results. After 

 continued trials to obtain good results 

 with this feed during a period of 26 

 days, it was finally dropped entirely 

 from the ration. While the soy bean 

 meal interfered with the gains in steers, 

 it appeared to make them shed their 

 coats early and had a beneficial influence 

 in other ways. 



Velvet beans — In Florida, Taliaferro 

 tested the value of velvet beans in pods 

 when fed with cowpea hay. The steers 

 were allowed to have all the cowpea hay 

 they would eat and received in addition 

 3 bushels of velvet beans in the pod 

 daily The percentage of dressed weight 

 was somewhat less than when cassava 

 and cottonseed meal were used, and it 

 appears that velvet beans alone, with 

 cowpea hay as the roughage, are infe- 



rior to rations in which cassava occu- 

 pies an important place. 



Wheat — While wheat should never 

 constitute the whole or even the major 

 part of the grain ration for steers, it 

 may be used when the market price is 

 low. A number of experiment stations 

 and feeders have investigated the feed- 

 ing value of wheat for the purpose of 

 determining the maximum market price 

 at which wheat could be fed with a 

 profit. In Minnesota, it was found that 

 wheat could be profitably fed to steers 

 when the market price was not higher 

 than 47 ^ cents a bushel. In Idaho 

 French found that steers on a chopped 

 wheat ration produced a pound of meat 

 for every 3.4 pounds of wheat consumed. 

 The profit from feeding wheat to steers 

 was found to be quite attractive, and 

 it appears that chopped wheat is an ex- 

 cellent grain ration when combined with 

 corn silage and hay. As a rule, how- 

 ever, it is best to feed wheat for only a 

 part of the fattening period, changing 

 to barley and oats or peas in order to 

 prevent the steers from getting off feed. 

 In Colorado, wheat with or without 

 sugar beets has been found to produce 

 good gains in steers. The shrinkage as 

 a result of shipping was greater than 

 with corn-fed steers, but less than in 

 those on a barley ration. Ground wheat 

 appeared to be superior to ground bar- 

 ley. In Canada, wheat bran proved to 

 be more valuable for feeding purposes 

 than whole wheat or wheat flour, and in 

 this test the new-process bran gave the 

 best results. In Maryland, however, the 

 new and old-process bran proved to be 

 of equal value. In Oregon and Penn- 

 sylvania, wheat used alone was found 

 to be less effective than when mixed 

 with corn or some other grain. In Ore- 

 gon, wheat has been tested as a steer 

 feed in the sheaf. Steers appeared to 

 do better than pigs on sheaf wheat, but 

 the gains are costly and the steers do 

 not mature quite as rapidly as on 

 ground wheat. It should be remembered 

 that frozen wheat has about as high a 

 feeding value as uninjured wheat, and 

 on account of its low market price may 

 be fed with profit. The economy of 

 feeding wheat in any form to steers de- 

 pends upon the market price. In Wyom- 

 ing, cracked wheat in one feeding ex- 

 periment appeared to be used at a finan- 

 cial loss. 



At the Montana experiment station, 

 Linfield found wheat to be superior to 



