General Discussion 



385 



Lot II 81 days, Lot III 99 days, and Lot I would have required 139 

 days to finish. From these data it will be noticed that the steers 

 receiving a ration of hay, silage, and cottonseed meal, or these feeds 

 and the addition of ground grain, make an early finish. Steers fed 

 on alfalfa hay alone require approximately twice as long to come to 

 a finish as where alfalfa hay, silage, cottonseed meal, or these with 

 the addition of ground milo maize are fed. 



DRESSED PERCENTAGE OF CATTLE 



The report from Babbitt Brothers, Flagstaff, Arizona, who 

 dressed the animals and retailed the beef, was that the carcasses from 

 the steers were satisfactory for that trade. 



All the steers in Lots IV and VI were sent to market after being 

 in the feed lots 77 days. In each of Lots III and V one steer was thin. 

 None of the steers in Lot I were sold at this time, and only one in 

 Lot II. This made it necessary to estimate the dressed percentage 

 of the steers in the various lots at the end of the 77 days. In Lots IV 

 and VI the dressed yield was 57.7 and 58.9 percent respectively. 

 Making allowance for the one steer in Lot V, it was estimated that 

 this lot would average 58.5 percent, and similarly in Lot III, 57.2 

 percent. It is doubtful if Lot I would have dressed as high as 54 

 percent, while 57 percent was estimated for Lot II. The actual 

 dressed percentage of the animals remaining 110 days was secured. 

 From these figures it may be concluded that the steers with milo 

 maize in their ration were fatter and dressed a higher percentage than 

 those receiving no concentrates. The following table gives the weight 

 of the cattle off cars at Flagstaff, dressed weight of the cooled beef, 

 and the percentage yield in beef: 



TABLE XII.— DRESSED PERCENTAGE OF STEERS 



The 23 steers weighed a total of 22,290 pounds off the cars and 

 yielded 13,029 pounds of beef, which was an average of 58.45 percent. 

 The 13 steers gave a dressed percentage of 56.77 percent. The 

 average dressed percentage of beef from the 36 steers was 57.84. 

 The average weight of the 36 steers was 975 pounds weighed off the 

 cars at Flagstaff, and they gave 564 pounds of beef, which was 57.84 

 percent of the live weight. 



