16 BULLETIN 110, XJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKtCULTTTHE. 



explainable reason the oil did not emulsify and when the steers were 

 dipped the first time several were badly blistered, and the hair and 

 hide peeled off the legs and the lower part of the body of almost all 

 the animals. During the remainder of the test the steers were 

 greased by hand after being confined, one by one, hi a chute. The 

 steers made fairly satisfactory gains in spite of all of these unfavor- 

 able circumstances. In 1911 the dipping vat was filled with the 

 official arsenical solution, and no difficulties or unfavorable results 

 were encountered. 



PRICES AND FEEDS USED. 



Cottonseed cake and alfalfa hay were used in addition to the 

 pasture. The pasture was used in all of the tests, the cottonseed cake 

 was used for about one-half the lots, and the alf alf a hay was fed in one 

 case only. The cottonseed cake was charged against the steers at 

 the market price, and an estimated price, corresponding as nearly as 

 possible to the market price, was placed upon the alfalfa hay. The 

 following values were placed upon the feeds: 



Cottonseed cake per ton. . §26. 00 



Alfalfa hay do 16. 00 



Pasture (per head) per month. . . 50 



The hay was practically all freshly cut alfalfa and was of excellent 

 quality. The cottonseed cake was not of the best quality. That 

 used in 1910, or a part of it at least, got wet while it was being hauled 

 from the mill to the farm; and a part of this cake had been carried 

 over and was fed in 1911. The steers ate it up clean, however. The 

 cake had been broken into nut size and sacked at the mill. 



In regard to feeding cake rather than meal, the statement in a 

 former publication is here quoted: 



This cake can be purchased in the large cake size, just as it comes from the press, for 

 about $2 a ton cheaper than in the nut size. Some feeders find that it pays to break the 

 cake on their own farms. The cake is the same as cottonseed meal, except that it is not 

 ground into meal. There are several advantages in feeding cake in place of meal, 

 especially in summer feeding. A rain does not render the cake unpalatable, but it will 

 often put the meal in such a condition that the cattle will not eat it. Again, no loss is 

 incurred with the cake during windy days, whereas the meal, when fed in the open 

 pasture, is sometimes wasted on account of the winds. Furthermore, the cake requires 

 chewing before being swallowed, and therefore must be eaten very much slower than 

 the meal, so when a number of steers are being fed together the greedy one has little 

 chance to get enough cake to produce scours. When cottonseed meal is fed the greedy 

 steer often scours because he car bolt the meal and get more than his share; this not 

 only injures the steer but makes the bunch "feed out" unevenly. 



DAILY RATIONS. 



When steers are fattened on pastures in the Western States it is the 

 custom to feed large amounts of grain, principally corn. As a result 

 of feeding these heavy rations — sometimes as much as 20 pounds of 



