162 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



YEARLINGS AND THREE-YEAR-OLDS COMPARED. 



As in the case of the two-year-olds in these experiments, the 

 three-year-olds had been roughed through the winter, and were in 

 thin flesh when they entered upon this experiment. On the other 

 hand, the yearlings had been practically full fed since February, 

 and were, therefore, carrying considerable flesh. Notwithstanding 

 this difference in condition, it is a very striking fact that the three- 

 year-olds made on the average a smaller gain than did the year- 

 lings. This is illustrated by the fact that the average daily gain 

 for all the yearlings was 2.14 pounds daily, and for all the three- 

 year-olds it was 2.09 pounds. In but one lot, namely, that fed on 

 corn and gluten feed, did the three-year-olds gain more rapidly 

 than the yearlings. It is true that the three-year-olds were fin- 

 ished to a degree that none of the other cattle in this experiment 

 had ever been brought to, and it is likely that in the last 60 days 

 of the feeding period these older cattle produced very small in- 

 crease in weight, which would have the effect, of course, of ma- 

 terially reducing the average rate of gain for the whole feeding 

 period. This is a matter of too much detail to go into in the dis- 

 cussion here, and the student who is interested in this subject is 

 referred to a bulletin soon to be issued by the Experiment Station, 

 by Professor F. B. Mumford, Professor of Animal Husbandry, in 

 which all of such details will be discussed most carefully. 



In studying our results with yearlings and three-year-olds, 

 it should be borne in mind that we have but one trial, and conclu- 

 sions formed should be subject to confirmation by trials now in 

 progress. In fact, it will be safer to reserve final judgment until 

 more data are accumulated. At the same time, it will be inter- 

 esting to note the trend of these results. 



It will be observed, as might be expected, that the difference 

 in cost of gains between yearlings and three-year-olds is materially 

 larger than was that noted between yearlings and two-year-olds. 

 For example, the maximum difference shown between the year- 

 lings and three-year-olds having corn alone amounted to $2.02 

 per hundred, which, applied to the gain made by the three-year- 

 olds for the season, is $7.92 per steer. The minimum difference 

 in this trial was between the lots fed on corn and gluten feed, and 

 amounted to 65 cents per hundred, or $3.09 per steer for the entire 

 fattening period. The average of all the lots shows a difference 

 of $1.24 per hundred, or $5.28 per steer. In order to overcome 

 this excess in cost of gain, it will be necessary to buy three-year- 



