BO BULLETIN 110, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



more than made by steers which received no feed but range during 

 the winter. These steers did not make as large gains on pasture as 

 the steers of lot 1. 



STEERS WINTERED ON RANGE AND COTTON SEED. 



The winter ration fed to lot 5 was cotton seed, in addition to the 

 winter range. These steers were not fed enough cotton seed to 

 maintain their weight throughout the winter. They averaged 706 

 pounds in weight when the test started, and lost 40 pounds per head 

 during the winter. However, when turned upon pasture and given 

 supplementary feed, they made exceedingly good gains. 



The steers which received pasture alone in summer made 1.84 

 pounds per day, while the fed steers gained at a rate of 1.76 to 2 

 pounds per day. The average summer daily gain of each of the 25 

 steers in the lot was 1.93 pounds, the total gain per steer being 287 

 pounds. For the combined winter and summer periods each of the 

 steers of lot 5 made an average gain of 1 pound per day. 



It is seen that a small amount of cotton seed, about 4.70 pounds, 

 given to every steer on range each day of the winter prevented them 

 from losing 61 pounds in weight. With this small amount of feed 

 the steers of lot 5 lost but 40 pounds each during the winter season. 

 At the time the cotton seed was fed it was worth but $14 per ton and 

 was cheaper to use in that quantity than meal and hulls. The gain 

 made the following summer by these steers was good, being 1 .93 pounds 

 per steer per day, which was the highest daily gain made during the 

 summer by any of the lots of steers which had received feed during 

 the winter. The average gain made for the winter and summer was 1 

 pound per steer per day, or practically the same as made by the steers 

 fed on cowpea hay, but less than that made by cattle wintered on 

 meal and huEs. 



The costs of wintering these steers has been discussed in a previous 

 publication, but with the price existing at the time when the work 

 was done, the cowpea hay and the cotton seed proved more profitable 

 than the meal and hulls for wintering cattle. 



COMPARISON OF RESULTS UNDER SUMMER METHODS OF FEEDING. 



The comparisons which have heretofore been made have been with 

 the various lots of steers which were handled the same way during the 

 winter but finished by different methods on pasture. There is 

 another and more important comparison which should be made, 

 however, in order to properly show the effects of different methods 

 of wintering cattle upon the size of the summer gains. This com- 

 parison reverses the former method — that is, the groups are compared 

 which were wintered on different feeds but all of which received 

 similar treatment during the pasture season. For instance, compare 

 the results secured with group A under each of the five separate 

 winter lots of cattle. Each of these groups was fed on a different 

 feed during the winter, but the steers of group A in every case were 



