COMPARISON OF ROUGHAGES FOR FATTENING STEERS. Bul 
was purchased from neighbors, but changing feed, driving, and the 
excitement caused by crowds of farmers made all the cattle lose 
weight between March 24 and April 1. For this reason the average 
final farm weights shown in Table 15 do not coincide with those 
shown in Table 13. 
The steers were weighed at 7 a. m., April 1, driven two miles 
to the loading station, and were on their way at ll a.m. They 
arrived at the St. Louis stockyards at 2 p. m., April 3, having been 
in transit about 54 hours. 
The average shrinkage per head was low for the time in transit, 
but the steers had been losing weight during the days previous to 
shipping, which accounts for the comparatively low shrinkage. The 
amount of shrinkage varied only slightly, being highest in Lot 1 and 
lowest in Lot 2. 
The steers were given feed and water in the yards during the after- 
noon and night of April 3, and were sold the following morning. 
They were slaughtered the next day, April 5, and the carcass weights 
recorded as below: 
TABLE 15.—Slaughter data. 
Per cent dressed. 
Average | Average 
Average 
Lot Dat: farm market | Average shrinkage - 
No. abou: weight | weight inransita gp cea Ole By 
per steer. | per steer. ; = ne market 
m SS weights. 
1 | Cottonseed meal and | Pounds. | Pounds. | Pounds. | Per cent.| Pounds. | Per cent.) Per cent. 
sorghum Silage..-...-- 1,067 1,017 50 4.68 59 55.10 57. 81 
2 | Cottonseed meal, sor- 
ghum silage, and corn 
SUOV 00s = 2 ee eee ee sae 1, 064 1,019 45 4,23 593 55. 73 58.19 
3 | Cottonseed meal, sor- 
ghum silage, and oat 
SHAW Sep -acees ene 1,048 1,001 47 4,47 578 55.15 57. 74 
The carcasses were well covered with fat and were pronounced by 
the butchers as well finished. Little variation was found in the 
degree of finish of the different lots of steers, as the dressing per- 
centages show. It will be noted that these dressing percentages are 
rather high for this class of cattle, which speaks well for the 
efficiency of the rations fed. 
SUMMARY OF THE EXPERIMENT. 
1. The objects of this feeding test were to study the effect of a 
supplemental allowance of corn stover and oat straw to a basic ration 
of cottonseed meal and silage for fattening mature steers, and to 
furnish data by which former work of a similar nature might be 
checked. 
2. The work was planned so that it would be a repetition of the 
test of the winter of 1915-16. 
