12 BULLETIN 745, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cottonseed products. This is of importance because range cattle 

 placed on feed for the first time often require from 1 to 10 days 

 before they are eating cottonseed products to advantage if the meal 

 or cake is fed alone. 



THE AMOUNT OF SOAPWEED CATTLE WILL EAT. 



In the feeding, at the Jornada Range Reserve it was found that 

 poor breeding cows will be maintained or will improve slightly in 

 condition on from 15 to 20 pounds of the soapweed feed and from 1 

 to I-3 pounds of cottonseed meal per day. This is a sufficient ration 

 to. maintain breeding stock over a period of drought. A mature 

 animal if given all it wants of a mixture of 15 pounds soapweed to 1 

 of meal will eat about 50 pounds daily. 



ILL EFFECTS FROM EATING SOAPWEED. 



There is a slight danger from overfeeding with soapweed when 

 stock are first put on feed, and some danger of choking. If cattle 

 unaccustomed to eating the feed are supplied all they will eat the 

 first few days, they may be affected by bloating, sometimes resulting 

 in death. This bloating is not very noticeable and comes on quickly 

 after a cow has overeaten. When death results it occurs very soon 

 after bloating begins, and the animals seem to be in great pain for 

 a short period. Loss of two cows out of more than 1,000 fed on the 

 Jornada Range Reserve was attributed to this cause. Choking may 

 result from the attempt of a cow to swallow too large a piece of the 

 soapweed. Post-mortem examination of a cow that died apparently 

 from starvation as a result of obstruction of the food passageway 

 revealed a large piece of soapweed lodged in the esophagus at a 

 point approximately between the lungs. 



The danger of both bloating and choking can be overcome by 

 proper management. Poor cattle that have been on short pasturage 

 should not be allowed to overeat soapweed during the first few days. 

 There is less danger after stock become accustomed to the feed. The 

 danger from choking will be slight at most, and it can be avoided by 

 the use of proper machinery to cut the plants into' smaller pieces. 



No bad purging or scouring effect, such as might be expected from 

 the plant's soaplike qualities, resulted from feeding the soapweed. 

 Cattle fed over 100 days, extending into the time when the sap had 

 begun to rise or growth had begun in- the plants, were not affected 

 at all'. Rather than ill effect there is an apparent good effect. Nor- 

 mally, stock on dry feed at this time of the year are badly consti- 

 pated and doubtless would do better if given more purgative. It 

 was found on the Jornada Range Reserve that the soapweed kept the 

 digestive tract of the animals in excellent condition. There was a 



