THE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



403 



the leaves had fallen. The cattle which 

 received pearl millet did not thrive well, 

 but their appetites remained in good 

 condition. The value of the pearl millet 

 appeared to be considerably less for 

 feeding purposes than kafir corn. 



Peanut hay — This coarse material, 

 while produced in large quantities, is 

 seldom fed to steers. Craig and Mar- 

 shall have fed peanut hay to steers at 

 the Texas experiment station, and found 

 that it was unsatisfactory when fed with 

 rice bran and cottonseed meal, owing to 

 the fact that it contains a high percent- 

 age of protein and should therefore be 

 used in a more carbonaceous ration. It 

 appears that peanut hay is of consider- 

 able feeding value. 



Prickly pear — On the southwestern 

 desert ranges of Arizona, New Mexico, 

 Texas and Colorado, various species of 

 prickly pear cacti have attracted atten- 

 tion as forage plants. On account of the 

 spines which these plants carry, it is 

 necessary to singe or otherwise treat 

 them to remove the spines before they 

 can be eaten. Horses understand how 

 to roll the cacti under their feet so as 

 to break off the spines and prepare the 

 material for food. With cattle and 

 sheep, however, the case is different, 

 since these animals do not understand 

 how to remove the spines. In order to 

 utilize prickly pear more extensively, va- 

 rious methods of singeing by means of 

 wood fires or gasoline blowers have been 

 adopted and a number of feeding experi- 

 ments have been carried on. It ap- 

 pears that for cows from 40 to 100 

 pounds of prickly pear may be used per 

 day. Oxen may be worked on an ex- 

 clusive prickly pear ration of 125 to 200 

 poimds per day. 



Rye — Steers are often allowed to 

 graze on green rye. One of the advan- 

 tages of rye is that it springs up early 

 in the season and thus furnishes a suc- 

 culent green food in advance of the or- 

 dinary pasture grasses. In Alabama, 

 it has been found that rye will be eaten 

 clean by cattle, even if it is allowed to 

 reach the height of 2 feet before the 

 cattle are turned on it. Duggar found 

 that cattle would make gains of l 1 /^ 

 pounds a day on rye pasture. 



Rye grass — This wild grass is cut for 

 hay in various parts of the country. If 

 allowed to get too ripe before cutting, it 

 is a coarse grass and unpalatable. Rye 

 grass is also subject to infestation with 

 ergot and should not be used for feed 

 when the heads contain too much of this 



fungus. The Canadian feeders have 

 found that rye grass is equal to oats in 

 the sheaf for fattening steers. 



Silage — In discussing the corn plant 

 as a coarse forage for steers, mention 

 has already been made of the use of 

 corn silage in fattening cattle. Silage 

 is not used as extensively for steers as 

 for dairy cows, but appears to give good 

 results wherever it has been thoroughly 

 tested. A number of mixed forms of 

 silage have been used in different locali- 

 ties with considerable success. In Mary- 

 land, a silage containing corn, sorghum 

 and soy beans in rations of 40 pounds 

 a day proved to be more than a main- 

 tenance ration for winter. According 

 to Canadian experience, the cost of gain 

 on Robertson's mixture is considerably 

 less than on straight corn silage. Refer- 

 ence is made under sorghum and other 

 plants, as well as corn, to their use in 

 the form of silage. 



Sorghum — This plant is fed to steers 

 as a coarse forage wherever it is grown 

 on a commercial scale. In Arizona, it 

 proved to be nearly equal to alfalfa, and 

 in Iowa, sorghum silage appeared to be 

 as effective as corn silage in fattening 

 steers, but was not so well relished. A 

 test of this matter in New Mexico 

 showed that all of the non-saccharine 

 sorghums were readily eaten by cattle 

 and were preferred in many cases to al- 

 falfa hay. Sorghum as a soiling crop 

 was found to produce rapid gains in ex- 

 periments carried on in Tennessee. In 

 Texas, it was found that steers shrunk 

 least on shipping after being fed on 

 sorghum and cottonseed meal and hulls 

 with corn chops. 



In Texas, it has been found that 

 sorghum hay in a ration of cottonseed 

 meal and rice bran, gives results about 

 equal to cottonseed hulls, 1 pound be- 

 ing equal to 1.02 pounds of the hulls. 

 The gains in weight in steers fed on cot- 

 tonseed hulls as compared with sor- 

 ghum hay were slightly in favor of the 

 hulls. 



Soy beans — Soy bean silage may be 

 fed to cattle in winter in rations of 25 

 to 30 pounds a day with a grain ration of 

 1 to 2 pounds cottonseed meal, and 5 

 pounds of corn meal. This ration pro- 

 duces rapid gains in weight and also 

 maintains the health of the cattle in ex- 

 cellent condition. In Illinois, soy bean 

 silage proved to be as digestible as 

 clover hay. 



Straw — Spelt straw is not extensively 

 grown, except in limited areas and for 



