22 BULLETIN" 631, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The plan of the barn was such that the calves could not have the 

 run of the open lots. The pens were kept well bedded for the first 

 six weeks, but there were so many steers on feed at the same time 

 that but small amounts of bedding could be used after the sixth 

 week. The pens were muddy and sloppy during the latter half of 

 the feeding periods. 



A water trough was in each pen and water was furnished from 

 a deep well. Feed throughs were used for feeding the silage and 

 grain, and the alfalfa was fed in racks over the troughs. The shat- 

 tered leaves from the racks fell into the feed trough, so there was 

 no waste of feed. 



The feeding was done at 7 o'clock in the morning and 3 o'clock 

 in the afternoon. 



CHARACTER AND PRICE OF THE FEEDS. 



As this experiment was for the comparison of grain rations the 

 roughage for all lots was the same. The calves of all lots were fed 

 about 5^ pounds of cottonseed hulls and 3^ pounds of alfalfa hay 

 per head daily and given in addition all of the silage they would eat. 



The cottonseed meal was about the average in quality. Analysis 

 showed an ammonia content equal to about 7.2 per cent nitrogen. 

 The corn was not quite as good as the average of Mississippi corn. 



The cottonseed hulls were of average quality, the hulls used being 

 good for the entire time except for a very short period when some 

 hulls of an inferior grade were received. These were fed but a few 

 days until good hulls could be obtained. The alfalfa hay was bright 

 and of good quality, but contained a little Johnson grass. The corn 

 silage contained very little grain this year and was not as good as 

 usually is made on southern farms. Taken as a whole the feeds, with 

 the exception of the silage, were just about the average of what are 

 used on the stock farms of the South during average years. 



The following prices were used for the feeds : 



Cottonseed meal per ton $23. 50 



Cottonseed hulls do 6. 50 



Corn-and-cob meal per bushel . 70 



Corn silage per ton 3. 00 



Alfalfa hay do 15.00 



The prices used for cottonseed hulls and meal were the actual cost, 

 whereas the prices used for other feeds were those used in other ex- 

 periments and represented a good price for the farm-grown feeds 

 and a profit to the farm in the production of them. 



AVERAGE DAILY RATIONS BY PERIODS. 



The calves of all lots had a preliminary feeding period from Oc- 

 tober 25 to November 13, during which time they were getting ac- 

 customed to the feed lots, to eating their feeds, and were recovering 



