180 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



throughout and showed less marked variation in the requirement of grain 

 during the later stages of the fattening period. The average amount of 

 grain required to make a pound of gain during the first three months in 

 Lot 70 was 4.43 pounds. The average amount of grain required during 

 the last four months of the fattening period was 8.76 pounds. Compar- 

 ing these figures with those given on page 302, it will be seen immediately 

 tliat this particular method of feeding was the most efficient of any ration 

 or method of feeding used in this experiment. Probably the amount 

 of grain required to make one pound of gain increases somewhat more 

 rapidly during the later stages of the feeding period when corn alone 

 is fed than when supplemented rations are employed. 



TABLE 4. 



FATTENING YEARLING CATTLE ON BLUE GRASS PASTURE— INCREASED 



AMOUNT OF GRAIN REQUIRED FOR ONE POUND OF GAIN DURING 



LATER STAGES OF FATTENING PERIOD. 



Average of Sixteen Experiments with 126 Animals. 



AGE AS A FACTOR IN BEEF PRODUCTION. 



Other things being equal, the younger the animal the larger will 

 be the gains in live weight from a given amount of food. No principle 

 in connection with the feeding of meat animals has been more firmly 

 established than this. If other factors remained always the same then 

 the number of pounds of grain required to make a pound of gain would 

 be an accurate measure of the efficiency of different animals for meat 

 production. Measured by this standard alone, young animals would 

 invariably be more profitable to feed. 



But in practice other factors may conspire to overcome the higher 

 efficiency of young animals in the production of animal tissue. 



One factor which may exert a more powerful influence over the 

 gains made than age is the condition of the animal at the beginning of 



