AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 39 



fed to any steer during- the entire experiment was thirteen pounds 

 of hay and eight pounds of grain. Considering the small amount of 

 food eaten, the growth of the animals was very satisfactory. 



As can be readily seen, neither of the rations fed can be con- 

 sidered as unusual. Neither one is unlike what might be found in 

 the practice of many cattle feeders. Neither one includes extra- 

 ordinary materials or proportions of nutrients. The one was com- 

 pounded to a nutritive ratio not unlike the German standard rations 

 for growing animals, and the other was made up so as to represent 

 what is called a "wide ration." Both rations were consistent with 

 health and a normal development of the animals and doubtless both 

 would be included within the limits of good practice, if these limits 

 are to be bounded by the extremes of opinion among practical feed- 

 ers. 



The essential difference between the two rations lies in the 

 marked difference in the proportions of protein which they contained, 

 and the discussion of results centers around this fact. Certainly it 

 cannot be claimed in either case that there was a deficiency of bone 

 making" material or that any other especially abnormal condition 

 prevailed. 



The manner of the experiment. Throughout the entire time the 

 steers •were stall fed, mostly, as previously stated, upon dry food. 

 During' all seasons they were allowed exercise in a large yard, ex- 

 cepting during rain storms or the severest winter days. The food 

 was weighed out daily and the animals were weighed on three con- 

 secutive days of each week, the averages of these three weighings 

 being- taken as the actual weights. The grains were not weighed 

 out separately on each day, but were mixed in large quantities, 

 the total daily ration being obtained by a single weighing. Each 

 new mixture of grains was sampled and the samples were submitted 

 to chemical analysis. Analyses were also made of the corn fodder 

 and silage eaten, but not of the hay. 



It is a matter for congratulation that the experiment progressed in 

 an unusually satisfactory manner. The animals were continuously 

 in good health and no accidents or disturbances of any kind occurred 

 to mar the success of the work, which, considering that the experi- 

 ment covered more than two years time, must be regarded as a xfiece 

 of good fortune. 



In January and February 1895 two animals, one from each lot, 

 Nos. 1 and 4, were killed and analyzed. These steers had been fed 

 experimentally about seventeen months and weighed 958 and 870 

 pounds respectively. The other two animals,Nos. 2 and 3 were fed for 

 more than ten months long-er or until during December 1895 and 

 weighed Avhen slaughtered 1300 and 12S0 pounds. Tnese latter ani- 

 mals had been fed therefore over twenty-seven months. 



As the animals were slaughtered, the blood, the various organs 

 and the carcasses were weighed and all these parts were immediately 



