FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH STEERS. 



The feeding experiment briefly described within a few subsequent 

 pages may be considered a continuation of a preceding one, reported 

 in full in our ninth annual report, 1891-92, pages 107 to 127. They 

 were planned chiefly for the purpose of ascertaining the cost of the 

 feed for the production of beef Jor the meat marJcet in case of growing 

 steers under existing local market conditions of the supply of coarse and 

 fine feed stuffs and of cost of beef. 



During our first experiment in the stated direction, four young 

 steers, grade Shorthorn, two one-year-old and two two-years-old, 

 served for our' observation. They were selected at different stages 

 of growth for the special purpose of observing and comparing the 

 feeding effect of one and the same suitable daily diet on the rate of 

 increase in live weights and on tlie cost of the feed consumed per pound 

 of live weight produced., under specified conditions. 



The coarse fodder articles used on that occasion were home raised, 

 and consisted, from the beginning to the end of the trial, of either 

 dry fodder corn, or corn ensilage, or corn stover, — all obtained from 

 the same variety of field corn — Pride of the North. The corn used for 

 the production of dry fodder corn and of corn ensilage was in both 

 cases of a corresponding stage of growth — kernels glazing. The corn 

 stover was obtained from the fully matured crop. 



The^ne or grain feed used in that connection in the preparation of 

 the daily fodder rations consisted, as a rule, of equal weights of 

 either wheat bran and Chicago gluten meal, or of wheat bran and old 

 process linseed meal, or of wheat bran, old process linseed meal and 

 corn and cob meal. The total quantity of the grain feed mixture used 

 daily, per head, varied from seven to nine pounds ; it never exceeded 

 nine pounds. The amount of coarse feed daily consumed per head 

 was controlled in every case by the appetite of each animal on trial. 

 Both lots of steers were kept in the stall during the entire time occu- 

 pied by the observation — December '89 to April '90. 



The most satisfactory results were noticed in case of both lots, as 

 far as the daily increase in live weight is concerned, when corn 

 ensilage was fed with a mixture of either wheat bran and Chicago 

 gluten meal or of wheat bran and old process linseed meal. During 

 a period of from six to seven weeks, when feeding the stated feed 

 stuffs, the daily gain in live weights in case of the yearlings reached 

 in one instance as high as 2.9 pounds per head, while in case of the 

 two-year-old steers it amounted under corresponding conditions to 



