FATTENING CATTLE IN ALABAMA. 33 



STEERS SUMMERED ON PASTURE AND COLD PRESSED CAKE. 



Group C was composed of steers which received cold-pressed 

 cottonseed cake as a summer feed. This was not fed each summer 

 of the 3 years as were some of the other lots, but was fed during 1908 

 only. This group gave different results from the others mentioned 

 with respect to the steers which made the greatest gains during the 

 summer. For some reason which can not be explained the steers of 

 group C which lost the most in weight during winter made the smallest 

 gains when put on pasture. The steers which were fed during the 

 winter and were as heavy in the spring as in the fall (those of lots 2 

 and 3) gained more by one-sixth of a pound per steer per day during 

 the grazing season than the steers of lot 1, in this group, which were 

 wintered on range alone. 



STEERS SUMMERED ON PASTURE AND COTTON SEED. 



The steers of group E were fed during 1909 only. The price of 

 cotton seed since that time has been so high that it has been better 

 policy to trade it for cottonseed meal or cake than to feed the raw 

 seed. During this year, however, the steers which made up group E 

 had been wintered in lots 1, 2, 4, and 5. Those which had been 

 wintered in lot 1 experienced the heaviest winter loss by far, and 

 made the largest daily gains on pasture, but these heavy gains on 

 pasture (2.28 pounds per steer per day) were not great enough to 

 overcome the difference in the winter losses when compared with 

 those of the other lots. In other words, the steers which became so 

 poor during the winter gained much faster during the summer months 

 than the heavier fleshed steers, but at the end of the feeding experi- 

 ment they were still lighter in weight than the steers which received 

 feed during the winter. 



STEERS SUMMERED ON PASTURE AND A HEAVY RATION OF COTTONSEED CAKE. 



As has been previously explained, the steers of group F were larger 

 and fleshier than the steers of the other groups. They were selected 

 thus so they could be finished in a shorter time for the market, and 

 were fed a heavier ration of cottonseed cake per day during the 

 summer feeding period. They are, therefore, not strictly comparable 

 with the other groups. The steers in this group which lost the 

 greatest amount of flesh during the winter gained fastest in weight 

 during the summer, but never got as heavy as the steers which lost no 

 flesh during the winter. The steers which had passed the winter on 

 range alone were not nearly as well finished at the time they were 

 sold as were the other steers which had received winter feed. This 

 was more noticeable with this group of steers than with any of the 

 groups which were fed for a longer summer period. 



