158 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



in consideration of this enhancement of the value of the carcass 

 that the fattening process is commercially possible. This is tanta- 

 mount to saying that the value of an animal is enhanced by the 

 fattening process out of all proportion to the value of the actual 

 pounds of gain made. 



THE PROFESSIONAL FEEDER AND BABY BEEF. 



The professional feeder of the corn belt is not yet making baby 

 beef. His preference is very decidedly for cattle in about their 

 two year old form. The reasons for this have already been stated, 

 and are more fully set forth in a discussion of the subject in the 

 last annual report of the State Board of Agriculture, by the writer, 

 entitled "Limitations of Baby Beef Production," and in Experiment 

 Station Bulletin No. 76, pp. 14-31. But the man who is raising his 

 own feeders on high priced land, with a shortage of pasture, as has 

 already been pointed out, will be practically forced to feed his cattle 

 out as baby beef or sell them as calves. 



i 



SEASON OF THE YEAR BEST SUITED TO FATTENING CATTLE. 



The tendency in late years among our cattle feeders has been 

 very sharply toward the abandonment of winter feeding and the 

 general adoption of summer feeding at pasture. It appears, from 

 the experience of these professional men and from very extensive 

 experiments conducted at the Missouri Experiment Station, that 

 cattle may be fitted for market in less time and at materially less 

 cost in summer than in winter.* The following summary of the 

 Missouri Station experiments will emphasize the importance of the 

 summer season over winter for fattening cattle. 



COMPARISON OF RESULTS OF SUMMER AND WINTER FEEDING. 



Time covered by experiment 



Number of steers involved 



Average number days on experiment per lot. 



Number of lots 



Total grain consumed 



Total roughness consumed 



Total gain in weight 



Grain eaten daily per steer 



Roughness eaten daily per steer 



Grain required per pound of gain 



Roughness required per pound of gain 



Average daily gain per steer 



Summer. 



3 yrs. 



88 

 209 . 3 



12 

 355,334 lbs. 



43,612 lbs, 



8.14 lbs. 

 2.37 lbs. 



Winter. 



5 yrs. 

 105 

 107 



238,872 lbs. 



91,450 lbs. 



23,910 lbs. 



21.29 lbs. 



8.15 lbs. 



9.99 lbs. 



3.82 lbs. 



2.13 lbs. 



♦For a full discussion of this subject, see Missouri Experiment Station Bulletin No. 76, pp. 31-42. 



