170 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



matter to investigate the influence of different methods of feeding and 

 different kinds of feed with dairy cows than any other animal that 

 we have to deal with, because the product which we seek in the case 

 of the coAv is a definite product, one that we can measure daily. We 

 know its composition, and we know every day how much water, how 

 much fat, how much casein, and other solids of the milk the cow yields 

 every day, and by feeding a definite amount we have an accurate meas- 

 ure of the influence of a kind of feed upon a cow. But in the case of 

 beef animals we have no such accurate measure. The only real stand- 

 ard of measure that the experimenter has to determine the efficiency 

 of different kinds of rations for feeding beef cattle is the gain in live 

 weight, and some of you know that the gain in live weight may mean 

 a good deal. Sometimes it may mean a lot of water, sometimes it 

 may mean bowel content. 



We trv to get around the variations in the bowel content in vari- 

 ous ways so that the gain in live weight may be as much as possible 

 an accurate measure. We always weigh the animals at a certain 

 time in the day. We weigh them before they drink any water. We 

 shut up the water troughs before we weigh the cattle, so that the 

 variation is regulated as much as possible. But, even when all that is 

 done, we are not positive that feeding ten bushels of corn for a certain 

 period will result in an actual gain of live weight to the animal ; 

 although the scales may say that the animal has gained so much, he 

 may not have gained so much, but may have only filled up so much. 



Now, I will not attempt to take up the subject of cattle feeding in 

 all of its phases, nor discuss all of the factors which determine profit 

 in cattle feeding, but I will very briefly mention one or two factors 

 that have been under discussion and upon which we have had some 

 definite statements and about which the practical feeder wants to 

 know the facts in the case as far as he is able; and one of these ques- 

 tions that I propose to discuss is the "Influence of Age on Profitable 

 Cattle Feeding," or upon the profits from cattle feeding, and another 

 is the "Influence of Condition." 



It is rather an interesting analogy that we draw between the ani- 

 mal and the machine. It has been stated here several times that the 

 animal is a machine, and the analogy is not one that is far-fetched, 

 and it may be a very useful one. The animal is a machine. The 

 farmer is a manufacturer and in the production of beef the farmer 

 uses the animal as a machine to work over the feeds of the farm — 

 the raw vegetable products like hay and corn — for the production of 

 beef, mutton or pork, and in this production of animal material we 



