100 



This work shows clearly that profits cannot be made 

 upon cattle when the conditions are as they were in this 

 test. It is true that the beef cattle market was demor- 

 alized just at the time of sale, but even with a normal 

 market it would have been impossible to have made 

 money on these young steers. To have come out even 

 on the operation the steers of Lots 4 and 5 would have 

 had to sell for $5.09 and $5.24 per hundredweight re- 

 spectively. This they would not have done even under 

 normal market conditions. Too much high-priced feed 

 had been fed. Furthermore, subsequent work seems 

 to teach that, while they were fed too long a time 

 in the summer, they were not fed liberally enough 

 during the winter. If they had been sold earlier in the 

 summer the financial outcome would not have been so 

 discouraging, as the price would have been better and 

 considerable high-priced feed would have been saved. 

 In fact, a little profit ^^'ould have been secured if they 

 had been sold about July. Then again, the expense of 

 feeding them during the winter was a heavy one, while 

 >only small gains were secured. It cost $8.95 and $9.83 

 to feed each steer in Lots 4 and 5 through the winter 

 months. If profits are to be made in handling cattle in 

 this manner, the winter feed bill must be carefully 

 looked after. 



Two or three methods of feeding can be adopted by 

 which the winter feeding can be done more economi- 

 cally than was the case in this test. In the first place, 

 these young steers were not fed a sufficient amount oi 

 feed during the winter months. Their ration was too 

 near a mere maintenance ration. In the second place, 

 the open range in some parts of the State, can be used 

 to supplement the high-priced feeds. With young ani- 

 mals the range can never entirely take the place of 

 high-priced feeds, as young animals must be fed during 

 the winter months if satisfactory results are secured. 

 This system of wintering cattle, however, will disappear 

 as soon as the State becomes more densely populated 

 and the large farms are divided into small ones. In the 



