20 



BULLETIN 628, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



methods of finishing, the gains of the cattle and the finish acquired 

 could be studied also in relation to the different methods by which 

 the cattle had been wintered. 



The object of the summer fattening work was to determine which 

 was the more profitable plan, viz, to finish steers on grass alone or to 

 finish them on grass and cottonseed cake. The steers used had been 

 wintered on various rations, consisting of (1) ear corn, corn stover, 

 and hay; (2) corn stover and corn silage; and (3) winter grass. 



PLAN OF WORK. 



Table 8 gives a clear idea of how the work was planned. 



Table 8. — General plan of summer fattening of steers. 



Lot 

 No. 



Average 



number of 



steers for 



the three 



years. 



Method of wintering Dec. 16 to Apr. 15. 



Summer feeding, approximately from 

 Apr. 15 to Sept. 1. 



1 



24 



24 

 33 

 19 



Ear corn, stover, hay, and straw 





2 



do 



grass and cake. 

 Do. 



3 

 4 



Corn silage, stover, hav, and straw 



Winter grazed (fed only during snows) . . 



Grass. 

 Do. 



The work covered a period of three years. After the steers had 

 been wintered on the different rations as shown, they were carried 

 through the summer on grass, or on grass with cottonseed cake. 

 The first year all the steers in Lots 1 and 2 were fed cake with 

 pasture. The second and third years these lots were subdivided in 

 the spring, half in each lot being allowed grass alone, and the others 

 a small feed of cottonseed cake in the pasture. The steers in Lots 

 3 and 4 were grazed without feed each summer. The steers in each 

 lot were numbered the same during the summer as in the previous 

 winter's work, so that the records of each lot could be followed from 

 one fall until the next. 



KIND OF STEERS USED. 



The steers were the same ones used in the wintering experiments. 

 They were mostly 2-year-old grade Shorthorns, Herefords, and An- 

 gus, with a small amount of Devon blood. The different lots were 

 as nearW uniform in weight and quality as possible. 



CHARACTER AND PRICE OF PASTURE AND COTTONSEED CAKE. 



Most of the pastures used had been established for some time : they 

 consisted of a mixture of blue grass, clover, orchard grass, timothy, 



