Considerable interest has developed in the possibilities of self feeding
a protein supplement to cattle on grass. Self feeding is a labor
saving and eliminates the need for rounding up cattle every day.
Under usual circumstances, it is impossible to control the amount of
supplement consumed when it is self-fed. In an attempt to overcome
this limitation a few cattlemen have self-fed a mixture of salt and
cottonseed meal. It was found that the salt limited the amount consumed
and that by varying the proportion of salt in the mixture it was
possible to obtain the desired consumption of cottonseed meal.
Preliminary tests were conducted in 1948-49 with two-year old
steers on bluestem grass during the last 90 days of the summer grazing
season and during the winter with one lot of yearling steers wintered
on dry bluestem grass.