MAIZE GRAIN AS FOOD 



7HJ 



Maize Meal. — Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jer- chap. 

 sey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Vermont. XIV - 

 Amount used ranges from 1 -3 lbs. in Texas to 8 lbs. in New 

 Jersey and Ohio. 



Maize-and-cob Meal. — Connecticut, New Hampshire, 

 Ohio, and West Virginia. Amount fed : 2 to 3 lbs. 



Gluten Meal}— Connecticut and Massachusetts. Amount 

 fed : 2 lbs. 



684. Maize for Fattening Cattle.— -Prof. Henry (1), who 

 is the foremost American authority on stock feeding, says : 

 " Indian corn must continue the great grain-food for steer 

 fattening in the United States. While we cannot vie with 

 England in luxuriance of pasture, the advantage given our 

 farmers by the corn-plant more than offsets this, and places us 

 at the front in beef production. No concentrate is so relished 

 by cattle as corn, the kernels of which carry considerable oil, 

 rendering them toothsome and palatable to a degree not 

 equalled by other grain. Not only does corn carry oil, but it 

 is loaded with starch, likewise a fat-former, thus affording the 

 nutriment needed for filling the tissues of the steer's body with 

 fat, rendering the muscles tender and juicy. The success of 

 steer-feeding in America must depend largely upon the supply 

 of Indian corn available for this purpose." 



In feeding whole maize grain to cattle some of it passes 

 through the alimentary tract undigested. The Wisconsin Station 

 (Rep. 1 892) found that over 1 8 per cent of the maize fed as dry 

 grain (but only 3 per cent of the grain from the silage) passed 

 through cows in unbroken form. The Kansas Station (Bull. 

 47) found 1 1 per cent of soaked maize and nearly 16 per cent of 

 the whole and broken dry maize passed through steers. It takes 

 twenty-one to twenty-four hours for the grains to pass through 

 them. The dry grain voided by steers does not become fully 

 saturated, although it has passed through the whole length of the 

 alimentary canal. This grain need not be wasted, as already 

 pointed out, if vigorous young pigs are given the opportunity 

 of searching it out among the droppings. 



Some idea of the extent to which maize is used for fatten- 

 ing cattle in the Western States may be gathered from the 

 statements of the Standard Cattle Company, Ames, Nebraska, 



1 Gluten meal : prepared from maize. 



