MOLASSES IN FATTENING BEEF CATTLE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 59, 6 September 1939, Page 6

MOLASSES IN FATTENING BEEF CATTLE

FOOD MADE MORE PALATABLE FOR ANIMALS Experiments in fattening beef cattle conducted by the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station indicate that molasses is' as useful in promoting when added in moderate quantities to the ration, as it has been elsewhere proved to be in piomoting the production of dairy cattle when added to their food or water. The chief effect of molasses appears to be that it adds to the palatability of the food or water, as the ease may be, and induces the animals to eat to capacity. A't the same time it provides food which supplies heat and energy and some small amount of particularly magnesia. But all these factors are not sufficient to explain the very considerable difference in weight gains, amounting to as much as .361b a day an.l totalling 731b in a 200-day fattening period. It would appear that the molasses must supply some requireperhaps in minute form, which the animal needs to enable it to assimilate the fattening materials in other foodstuffs. HIGHER WEIGHTS OBTAINED. The experimenters state that "carcase studies showed that the molasses fed animals were one-third of a grade higher than the non_mt)lasses lots in both the tests, and that the meat was more highly 'marbled" when the supplement was fed. The practical application of the feeding of this b} r . product is further shown by the high er carcase values of the molnsses-fed steers." That the molasses may have had the effect of making more readily available the proteins already in the ration is suggested by the statement of 'the investigators that "protein supplements in addition to the, molasses in both years (during which the experiments were repeated) produced only slightly greater gains, hisnfficient to pay for tlfe cost of such supplements." Tn further experiments conducted at the same station to determine th? value of molasses as an addition to the standard laving ration of liens, four closely comparable pe™s were fed 0, 3, 5 and 7 ner cerHt of molasses respectively. The results, which bore out similar tests made the previous year indicated that 3 pc? ccnt molasses addition to the ration gave the highest egg production per lierr, the highest wholesale value of eggs and the best returns above food cost per hen. ' *,