154 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



ever, as these are inevitable conditions in any attempt to finish 

 cattle for a given time, it was decided to choose the latter method 

 and to attempt to finish the cattle together. Accordingly compari- 

 sons were made with yearlings and two-year-olds and with year- 

 lings and three-year-olds. 



It was planned to finish both classes of cattle in each season 

 for the Christmas market, being actually put upon the market 

 about" the first week in December. In order to have the yearlings 

 in prime condition at this time, it was necessary to begin feeding 

 them at least as early as December 1st of the previous winter, and 

 to practically full feed them until grass, and to continue full feed- 

 ing at pasture until they were shipped to market. On the other 

 hand, the three-year-olds were roughed through the winter, many 

 of them on only sufficient food to maintain their weight without 

 making any gain, and the others so fed as to make but slight 

 gains. When pasture was good, say about the first of May, they 

 were turned into good bluegrass pasture and put on about half 

 grain feed for May and June, and full fed from July until the 

 first week in December, when the experiment closed. 



In the case of the two-year-olds, essentially the same method 

 of wintering was employed as with the three-year-olds, but they 

 were rather more than half grain fed, on the average, during May 

 and June, and were full fed the rest of the season, in each case, of 

 course, on bluegrass pasture. 



For the purposes of the present discussion, and to avoid com- 

 plicating the problem unduly, we are considering only the results 

 of the feeding trial from the time all the cattle went to pasture, 

 about the first of May, until they were marketed. The gains made, 

 the cost of the same and the profit or loss of each class during the 

 preceding winter bear intimate relation to the outcome of the whole 

 undertaking, but will be considered under a separate head. 



In other words, we are dealing with this experiment as though 

 the professional feeder bought his animals on May 1st for 

 the summer with the determination to fit them for the Christmas 

 market, and that in order to do this it would be necessary, if he 

 chose the younger animals, to buy them fatter than if he took the 

 older ones. 



These experiments covered three years' work, as follows : 



In 1904, a comparison of yearlings and two-year-olds, on four 

 different rations. 



In 1905, a comparison of yearlings and three-year-olds, on four 

 different rations. 



