FINISHING CATTLE IN THE STALL OR SHED 153 



until on full feed, but at no time feeding more than i 

 pound daily for each loo pounds of the live weight of 

 the animal. This ration should prove suitable for all 

 the northern states east from Wisconsin and for those 

 of New England. In the northwestern states which 

 grow good crops of barley and oats, and also in Ontario, 

 Canada, the ration would be the same, except that it may 

 be more profitable to feed ground corn or barley and 

 ground oats or bran, beginning with equal parts fed at 

 the rate of, say, 5 pounds an animal daily, and ending 

 with not much more than I pound daily of the mixture 

 for each 1,000 pounds of the live weight. At the close 

 of the feeding term the proportions should be approx- 

 imately : Corn or barley 6 parts, oats or bran 2, and 

 oil meal 2. The latter may be fed from the first, but 

 when so fed should not make more than 5 per cent of 

 the meal ration. The meal would, in all instances, be 

 fed upon the ensilage. 



In the middle west the following may be looked 

 upon as a standard ration : Feed daily 20 pounds of 

 grain, of which, say, 3 pounds will be oil meal or cotton- 

 seed meal when the animals are on full feed, and in- 

 crease somewhat with increase in the live weight until 

 24 to 25 pounds are fed. Feed cautiously until the cattle 

 are on full feed. The roughage should be clover or 

 alfalfa hay, but, when necessary, a part of it may be 

 corn stover. Feed the corn with the least possible 

 amount of preparation, and have swine glean amid the 

 droppings. But it will be advantageous to feed some 

 of the corn shelled or ground, and mix in with it the 

 protein food in the absence of ensilage. This ration 

 may be used in all the states of the corn belt, and even 

 in parts of those states which border on them. 



For the southern states the following is submitted 

 as one of the best rations that can be fed, and it will 

 apply to states that can combine the feeding of corn, 

 cottonseed meal and some leguminous hay. Feed for 



