546 



Sheep and Cattle Feeding. 



[dec, 



Egyptian cotton-cake. Linseed-cake seems to be worth about 

 ijd. more per unit than Bombay cotton-cake. 



An experiment has also been conducted by the College for 

 the purpose of testing the relative merits of Bombay cotton- 

 cake, Egyptian cotton-cake, and decorticated cotton-cake by 

 feeding equal weights of them to lots of eight two-year-old 

 Irish cattle. It was conducted during winter, when the cattle 

 were receiving turnips and straw ad libitum. 



The cattle weighed about 9 J cwt. at the commencement of the 

 experiment. They cost ^15, or 30s. 6d. per live cwt. During 

 the twenty weeks it lasted they increased fully 2-| cwt, at a net 

 cost of £2 2s, 6d. per cwt. with decorticated cotton-cake, 

 £2 os. 9|d. with Egyptian cotton-cake, and £1 19s. 6d. with 

 Bombay cotton-cake. At the termination of the experiment 

 the cattle were fat, and realised 34s. per live cwt. These results 

 show that with this class of cattle live-weight increase may be 

 taken as costing fully £2 per cwt., and in order to have a 

 reasonable profit the feeder would require to buy his store 

 cattle at about 5s. less per cwt. than the price he sells them at 

 when fat. 



Bombay cotton-cake proved more effective per unit than 

 Egyptian cotton-cake, as in the case of the sheep feeding ex- 

 periment described above, and these experiments show that for 

 feeding cattle and sheep Egyptian cotton-cake is not worth 

 more per ton than Bombay cotton-cake. 



Mr. Bruce states that Bombay cotton-cake was found a cheap, 

 safe, and suitable food for starting the winter feeding of two- 

 year-old bullocks which are receiving a liberal ration of turnips. 

 About 6 lb. per head per day, however, is probably about the 

 maximum quantity it is advisable to use. When the feed of 

 concentrated food rises above this quantity the Bombay cotton- 

 cake should be supplemented by a food containing more oil — 

 e.g., linseed-cake. 



In regard to the purchase of feeding-stuffs, the experience of 

 the College indicates that there is considerable variation in the 

 quality of the samples on the market, and it is suggested that 

 purchasers should pay far greater attention to their composition 

 than they commonly do when purchasing them. 



A comparison of the results of the experiments both in the 



