CALF FEEDING IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. 9 



pay to replace two-thirds of the cottonseed meal part of the ration 

 by corn-and-cob meal when cottonseed meal can be bought at $26 

 a ton and corn costs 70 cents a bushel. 



In lot 1 only 134 pounds of cottonseed meal, 528 pounds of cotton- 

 seed hulls, and 222 pounds of hay were required to produce a gain in 

 weight of 100 pounds; this was an extremely satisfactory outcome. 

 In lot 2, where one-third of the grain part of the ration was made 

 up of corn-and-cob meal, to make an equal number of pounds of in- 

 crease required 115 pounds of cottonseed meal, 58 pounds of corn- 

 and-cob meal, 566 pounds of hulls, and 238 pounds of hay. The in- 

 troduction, therefore, of the corn-and-cob meal caused a correspond- 

 ing increase in both the total pounds of grain and roughage required 

 to make 100 pounds of gain. In lot 3, where two-thirds of the grain 

 part of the ration was made up of corn-and-cob meal, to make 100 

 pounds of increase in weight required the use of 77 pounds of cotton- 

 seed meal, 154 pounds of corn-and-cob meal, 602 pounds of cottonseed 

 hulls, and 255 pounds of hay. This was unsatisfactory indeed when 

 compared with the results obtained in lot 1, where no corn-and-cob 

 meal was used. 



This test indicates that while cottonseed meal and hulls are cheap, 

 and corn and farm-grown roughage, such as hay, are high-priced, it 

 pays better to purchase such commercial feeds as cottonseed meal and 

 hulls than to purchase corn and hay for fattening calves. However, 

 the boll weevil and the campaign for diversified farming are causing 

 a change in the farming methods of the South, with the result that 

 corn will be raised to a greater extent, a surplus being produced in 

 some sections, and more forage will be raised. The by-products 

 from such farming usually will have to be fed on the farm, and will 

 be much cheaper than the prices charged here. Then, too, such feeds 

 will be produced by many farmers who can not market them because 

 of remoteness from markets, poor roads, poor shipping facilities or 

 high freight rates, and lack of knowledge about the proper prepara- 

 tion of such feeds for the market. Under such conditions the feeds 

 can be used profitably for the stock. 



With the prices of feeds charged in this experiment, if all profit 

 is reckoned as the price received for the corn fed, the calves of lot 2 

 returned $3.57 per bushel for each bushel of corn consumed, and those 

 of lot 3 returned $1.62 per bushel for the corn. Or, if all feeds ex- 

 cept hay are charged at market prices and the profit is considered 

 as the price received for the hay consumed, the hay was sold by 

 means of the calves at prices ranging from $29.81 to $37.43 per ton. 



In this experiment it paid, and paid well, to buy both cottonseed 

 meal and hulls and sell them by means of the calves ; but it was also 

 very profitable to use the calves as a means of marketing the hay and 

 the corn which were grown upon the farm. 

 16709 6 — 18— Bull. 631—2 



