134 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



great, or in other words, to accurately measure the influence of 

 age upon the cost and value of gain made by beef steers, is a very 

 difficult undertaking. 



It is owing to this fact that this question has not been settled 

 in the public mind one way or the other long ago. There has cer- 

 tainly been sufficient discussion and really enough experimenta- 

 tion of a good character to settle an ordinary problem, but the 

 work and discussions so far have tended to confuse rather than to 

 crystallize public sentiment. 



It is not proposed that the new data presented by us will by 

 any means settle all of the numerous questions involved. They 

 will, however, throw light upon some very important phases of the 

 problem and tend to settle some details of practice along this line. 

 They will, furthermore, it is believed, make some progress toward 

 the definite solution of the whole problem, and suggest, perhaps, 

 vrhat other work of a fundamental character is necessary to finally 

 solve the problem. 



At this time, therefore, it seems that we are justified in under- 

 taking a rather exhaustive and critical study of the data so far 

 accumulated from all sources, as much to determine just where we 

 are on this problem, and to mark out the proper course for future 

 research as for the light these data will throw upon the feeders' 

 practice. 



DIFFICULTIES. 



At first glance it would seem that the selection of two lots 

 of cattle of different ages and of similar grade, and comprising a 

 sufficient number of animals to eliminate as far as possible the 

 pecularities of individuals, and the feeding of the same on the same 

 kind of feed for the same length of time, would give data upon 

 which a definite and final conclusion as to the relative cost of pro- 

 duction on young and old cattle could be based, especially if the 

 experiment were repeated often enough to make sure of reliable 

 figures. This, however, is precisely what has been done a number 

 of times, and done well, notably by the Ottawa Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Ottawa, Canada, and by the Kansas Experiment Station, and 

 the results so far as they go are perhaps thoroughly trustworthy. 



If, however, the feeding operation be continued only long 

 enough to make the older animals fat, the experiment closes before 

 the young animals are finished, and they have, therefore, escaped 

 the expensive period in the feeding operation, namely, the finish- 

 ing. We have, therefore, introduced under this plan a disturbing 



