138 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



There is nothing in the Ottawa and Kansas reports to indicate 

 that the quality of the cattle was not the same for the different 

 ages. Certainly, it is true that the quality of the younger cattle in 

 the Missouri experiments was fully equal to that of the older cattle; 

 In truth, in 1905 and 1906 the quality of the younger cattle was 

 decidedly superior to that of the older cattle. 



All of this is not to be interpreted as showing that the younger 

 cattle are necessarily at a disadvantage when sent to market. In 

 fact, the older cattle have to face this disadvantage in the present 

 market demands. This was especially true of the three-year-old 

 cattle involved in the Missouri experiments for 1905, weighing as 

 they did nearly 1,700 pounds on the market, and were, on account 

 of their extra weight, in very light demand, with few buyers, and 

 tiad it not been for their very prime condition, would have sold at 

 a low price. 



w 



-MPi 



Fig. 8. Yearlings, thick and hard. 



Therefore, other things being equal, the baby beef has an ad- 

 vantage over the older and heavier cattle when it goes to market, 

 provided it is prime. To make it prime while still young constitutes 

 one of the principal difficulties in making baby beef. 



A FAIR COMPARISON WOULD BE TO MAKE THE CATTLE OF ALL AGES 



EQUALLY FAT. 



It would seem, therefore, from the foregoing, that the only 

 way to compare the cost of gain in young and old cattle would be 

 to make both classes or ages equally fat. To feed them all an equal 

 length of time would, as has already been pointed out, be unfair 



