Farmers' Week hi Agricultural College. 171 



that will justify the feeder in ])elieving that the margin between the 

 feeding steer and the finished steer is going to be any greater than in 

 the past few years. The fact that these feeders are advancing every 

 week is evidence that the feeders are going to pay extremely high prices 

 in the next 30, 60 and 90 days. 



The average feeder does not get to exceed five pounds of gain from 

 a bushel of corn consumed by his cattle during the winter feeding period. 

 Corn through Central Illinois is now worth 40 cents a bushel, and it is 

 probably about that price here in Missouri. Forty-cent corn means 

 ."f^S.OO a hundred for the gain that the feeder is making on his cattle in 

 the feed lot this winter, and the average feeder is not making it for any 

 less than that. We must realize, then, that the gain that the steers make 

 in the feed lot on corn is invariably made at a loss. It is rarely the case 

 that we can sell a finished steer at a price that has made a profit on the 

 gain that steer has made while in the feed lot on a full feed of corn. 



The question is then asked, how can feeders make money feeding 

 cattle. If they make any money at all it is the advance they get on the 

 original weight over cost price. To illustrate: A feeder buys a 1,000- 

 pound steer at $5 a hundred. It costs him $50. He feeds that steer 

 60 bushels of corn at 40 cents a bushel — $24. The steer has cost him 

 $74. At the end of that feeding period he has a 1,300-pound steer. He 

 sells at $6 a hundred — $78. He has made a profit of $4 on the feeding 

 operation. The 300 pounds gain that cost $24 he sold for $18 — a loss 

 there of $6, but he had $1 a hundred advance on 1,000 pounds started 

 with — $10, leaving a profit of $4 a head, and I will leave it to any feeder 

 here if that is not a fair statement of conditions, and about all a feeder 

 can hope to get under present conditions if feeders get $1 net advance 

 over cost price for their fat steers. I think it is as much as they can 

 reasonably expect on a feed period of from four to five months. 



The question of feeding these cattle after once procuring them is 

 one that interests every feeder here, and we must remember that as the 

 age of the animal increases the cost of beef production increases, and as 

 the feeding period expands the cost of gain increases. Now, that does 

 not necessarily prove that there is more profit in feeding a calf or a 

 yearling than in feeding older cattle, but every feeder knows that every 

 additional hundred pounds put on cattle has cost more than the hundred 

 pounds put on previously. 



And the question of profitable feeding is one that interests us all. 

 I am not going to talk to you about protein and carbohydrates and a 

 balanced ration, but I will talk to you about corn, clover, hay, alfalfa, 

 and such products as the farm will produce. I believe in making the 



