38 BULLETIN 628, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUKE. 
IV. WINTER FATTENING OF STEERS. 
In the mountain districts of western North Carolina and adjacent 
sections of other States it has been the custom for farmers and stock- 
men to sell their steers in the fall of the year as feeders. When it is 
taken into consideration that some of these farmers raise considerable 
feed, such as corn, hay, and straw, which is often not used most ad- 
vantageously, and that the cattle handled under the usual methods 
furnish little manure for the cultivated fields, the feasibility of 
profitably finishing out a large number of these steers for the block 
is a question that at once presents itself. Many farmers of this sec- 
tion have desired information concerning the values of home-grown 
feeds, especially silage and other roughages, as well as the use of 
cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls for fattening steers. 
The following-described experiments were carried out to furnish 
dependable information of this sort and to illustrate methods of 
feeding and handling steers on feed in the dry lot, besides affording 
a comparison between selling steers as finished beeves and as feeders. 
EXPERIMENTS OF 1913-14. 
These experiments were conducted for the purpose of determining 
whether steers in this region could be fattened profitably during 
winter months for the market, and of comparing this method of dis- 
posing of the steers with the usual practice of selling them as feeders 
in the fall. It was desired also to obtain information as to what 
feeds usually would prove most efficient and profitable in finishing 
mature steers under farm conditions in these mountain regions. 
These objects involve a consideration of the methods best adapted 
for handling the steers, the use of native feeds ordinarily available, 
as well as the use of cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls, which must 
be shipped in, and a study of the problems connected with marketing 
the finished cattle. 
PLAN OF THE WORK. 
The work was carried out under average farm conditions for the 
section, and the care and attention given it were such as any good 
farmer should employ in doing similar work for himself. The cattle 
were divided into two lots of 12 steers each and were given the same 
care and management. The steers in Lot 1 were fed a ration of 
cottonseed meal, cottonseed hulls, and a mixture of corn stover and 
hay, while those of Lot 2 were fed cottonseed meal, ear corn, and 
cottonseed hulls, with corn stover and hay. The steers were fed 
from November IT, 1913,. to March 9, 1914, a total of 113 days. 
