160 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



$10.00 per ton, the charge for this portion of the steer's ration 

 would be $1.22 per month. 



The price per month for pasture of steers on full feed would 

 easily fall somewhere between 61 cents and $1.22. This means that 

 the roughness consumed in winter will practically offset the cost 

 of grass in summer. The problem is, therefore, narrowed down to 

 a direct comparison of the grain required to produce a pound of 

 beef under the two systems and the relative amount of labor and 

 other expenses involved. 



It will be observed that 10 pounds of grain made one pound of 

 beef in winter as an average of all steers, or that a bushel of corn 

 (for the bulk of the grain used was shelled corn in both summer 

 and winter) made 5.6 pounds of beef. 



The average of the summer trials shows that 8.14 pounds of 

 grain produced a pound of gain, or that a bushel of corn represent- 

 ed 6.88 pounds of beef, a difference in favor of summer feeding 

 of 22.7 per cent on the cost of grain alone. 



It will be noted that the steers gained more rapidly in sum- 

 mer than in winter, the average for winter feeding being 2.13 

 pounds per day, and in summer, 2.37 pounds per day. 



These summaries, therefore, furnish a general answer to the 

 objections raised by numerous writers to the tendency among our 

 feeders toward the discarding of winter feeding and the adopting 

 of summer feeding. 



Advantages of Summer Over Winter Feeding — The grounds 

 upon which feeders base their preference for summer feeding are 

 various and cover a wide range. The advantages of summer feed- 

 ing, in the light of all the foregoing data may be summarized as 

 follows : 



First. Gains made in summer will require less grain. 



Second. Steers will gain more rapidly and get fat quicker. 



Third. Steers can be made thick and prime on corn and grass 

 in summer with greater certainty, more uniformity, and with the 

 use of less expensive supplementary feeds like cottonseed meal or 

 linseed meal, than is possible in winter on dry feeds alone. 



Fourth. The hog makes larger gains and returns more profit 

 in summer than in winter, and there is a much lower death rate 

 among them. 



Fifth. There is a considerable saving in labor in summer feed- 

 ing over winter feeding, in view of the fact that only the grain 

 has to be hauled, and in view of the further fact that as a rule 

 the steers need to be fed but once a day. The manure is scattered 



