54 



Mature cow, nursing calves, 59 lbs., or 8 per cent. 



Heifers (2 years old, etc.), 172 lbs., or 39 per cent. 



Yearlings, male and female, 103 lbs., or 38 per cent. 



Sucking calves, 141 lbs., or 51 per cent. 



Young steers and bulls, 149 lbs., or 35 per cent. 



Young steers weighed for two pasturage seasons in 

 succession increased in weight 42 per cent, as yearlings, 

 and 44 per cent, as two-year-olds. 



On the winter range, cattle of all ages became very 

 thin, and in the opinion of the writers, it would have 

 been highly profitable for the owner to have supplied 

 them with hay and other food during the winter. 



The principal essentials to the profitable production 

 of beef cattle in Alabama are the use of pure-bred bulls 

 of the beef breeds, the economical production of hay, es- 

 pecially from the leguminous plants, the substitution of 

 this hay for a part of the grain ration, and an increased 

 study of the best methods of handling and marketing 

 cattle. 



J^'EEDiNG Experiment With Grade Steers. 



The steers used in tins experiment consisted of seven- 

 teen head, bought at Starkville, Mississippi ; and of three 

 head raised v.n the Station Farm at Auburn. The Miss- 

 issippi steo's were sired by a Shorthorn bull weigliing 

 1700 pounds, and were out of native cows, about one- 

 fourth of the steers showing strong evidence of Jersey 

 blood. These streets were bet1i^•een two and three years 

 old when bought. They reached Auburn November 5, 

 3903. The three steers raised on the Station Farm con- 

 sisted of a Red Poll grade, an Angus grade, and a cross- 

 bred Holstein -Shorthorn. 



