Live Stock Breeders' Association. 151 



on yearling-s, which is contrary to the results of all other years. 

 The maximum difference in favor of the yearling was in 1900, 

 when the yearlings showed a cheaper gain than three-year-olds 

 by $1.80 per hundred. The average of all the experiments at Ot- 

 tawa was $1.05 per hundred, amounting to $3.14 per steer, and 

 requiring 26 cents buying margin, or 21 cents selling margin to 

 overcome. 



The three-year-olds actually sold for 17 cents per hundred 

 more on the average than did the yearlings, showing that not all 

 the difference due to increased cost of gain was counterbalanced 

 by the extra selling price, and that some of it was left to be made 

 up in a cheaper buy for the cattle. 



Disregarding the superior selling qualities of the three-year- 

 olds, if one had the opportunity of buying yearlings at $4.50 per 

 hundred, computed on the basis of increased cost of gain alone, 

 the three-year-olds would have been equally cheap at $4.24 per 

 hundred. On the other hand, if it had been necessary to overcome 

 this increased cost of gain by the extra selling price with yearlings 

 bringing $5.50, it would have been necessary to have sold the three- 

 5^ear-olds at $5.71. 



The Kansas results show a difference between three-year-olds 

 and yearlings of $1.31 per hundred in favor of the latter in the 

 cost of gain, or $5.63, necessitating a buying margin of 56 cents 

 per hundred, or a selling margin of 39 cents per hundred. The 

 20 head of three-year-olds used in the Kansas experiment sold on 

 the Kansas City market for 40 cents per hundred more than did 

 the 20 yearlings used. Thus the older cattle, by reason of their 

 superior selling quality, just offset the increased cost of gain. As 

 has been before stated, the three-year-olds did not sell better, be- 

 cause they were older, or of a weight that was more desirable, but 

 because they were fatter. 



■■ TWO-YEAR-OLDS AND THREE- YEAR-OLDS CONTRASTED. 



If the reason already assigned for the smaller difference be- 

 tween yearlings and two-year-olds than between calves and year- 

 lings is sound, then we should expect a smaller difference between 

 two-year-olds and three-year-olds than between cattle of any 

 younger ages, and such is the case. 



The Ottawa experiments show a range of from 52 cents per 

 hundred to $1.02 per hundred, with an average of 74 cents per 

 hundred, all against the three-year-olds. This means that the 

 three-year-old on the average cost $2.28 per head more to make 



