Extension
Date of this Version
11-25-1905
Document Type
Article
Citation
Smith, H. R. (1905) Cattle Feeding Experiment. Roughness Supplementary to Corn for Fattening Two-Year-Old Range Steers. (Bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Nebraska, Bulletin No. 90 - Volume 18, Article 1)
Abstract
In the economical production of beef, the character of the roughness fed in connection with corn is a factor of greater importance than we have given it in the past. Heretofore, 'the inclination among cattle feeders has been to depend almost entirely upon corn for producing beef, supplying almost any sort of roughness that would satisfy the craving of the animal for something bulky. Some, in fact, have operated upon the theory that in producing beef for the market it is desirable to feed corn as heavily as possible, discouraging the consumption of rough feed by supplying an inferior quality of hay and not infrequently nothing more than a straw stack.
Under present market conditions, with a foreign and home demand for corn such as to make this grain continue high in price, and with beef selling at a figure hardly in keeping with modern corn values, we are forced to depend less. upon grain and more upon the cheaper bulky foods. In other words, we are compelled to recognize the 'fact that the steer is an animal adapted for the conversion of roughage as well as grain into beef· and that this part of the ration should be given as much consideration. It was the desire on the part of the Station to secure data on the relative value of rough feeds common in the West that led to a feeding test with yearling steers during 'the winter of 1904, the results of which were published in Bulletin 85. It seemed advisable to secure further proof along this line, and similar investigations were carried on the past winter with two-year-old steers. The only departure made in the two-year-old test was the use of alfalfa hay as a source of protein in the place of oil-meal for the steers fed corn-stover.