The Missouri Yearbook of Agriculture Volume 39; Annual Report (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...to produce 100 pounds of gain. Barley fed to sheep required 305 pounds of grain feed per 100 pounds gain. There were three or four experiments only in feeding barley to sheep. In feeding peas, we were able to find only one Canadian experiment, which shows that it required 452 pounds of peas to make 100 pounds of pork, and 549 pounds to make 100 pounds of mutton. But this experiment with sheep in connection with grazing the peas was on the ground, and this comparison is not, therefore, of great value. The feeding of mixed or balanced grain rations comprised more work than all the others combined. When mixed rations, mostly balanced rations, were fed in connection with roots or silage, it required 712 pounds of grain to make 100 pounds of gain with cattle. With hogs it required only 359 pounds of grain to 100 pounds of gain, and with sheep it required 370 pounds grain to 100 pounds of gain. The cattle required 572 pounds of hay and the sheep 382 pounds. When the same kind of rations were fed, with the addition of roots and silage, the average is 914 pounds of grain per 100 pounds gain for the cattle, 435 pounds for the hogs and 383 pounds for the sheep. Now, we were considerably surprised at the results of our investigations, and so much so that we went over the matter a second time, in order to get at the truth of this matter; but so far as I am able to compare the information gained, this is a fairly accurate comparison. Now some one may offer the suggestion immediately that we do not know how old these animals were, which is true. As it happens, however, most of the cattle fed were two years old, and most of the sheep fed were lambs, and most of the hogs fed were hogs under 200 pounds. The hogs and sheep were comparatively younger than the cattle; but in a...