FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 487 



sary for the greatest profit. A good steer can seldom be grown out of a 

 poor calf; third, in order to be profitable a calf must be properly handled 

 from birth; fourth, early maturing qualities are absolutely necessary 

 for the best results. 



For one to stand on the block and watch the yearling cattle sell, either 

 prize winners or not, for prices from 2 to 3 cents per pound in advance 

 of those brought by the heavier two and three-year-old cattle, was suffi- 

 cient proof that some of the older cattle might be well left out of the 

 exposition premium list. I believe it has been proposed that the class 

 for three-year-old cattle be dropped. There seems to be a very good 

 reason for this. I dare say that every pound of gain put on these heavier 

 cattle was done at considerable loss, while on the other hand the gains 

 made by the younger cattle were no doubt profitable. I know of some 

 loads of yearling cattle that did not pass the inspection of the "sifting 

 committee" which made gains for a period of nearly one year at a cost 

 of TY2 to 8 cents per pound. Fairly accurate figures have been kept 

 on their cost and gains. 



If our expositions are to remain as educational as they have In the 

 past, I am convinced of the fact that two-year-old cattle might well be 

 left from the single steer prize list. No doubt some may argue that the 

 steer herd would not look just right without the two-year-old, but I 

 am looking at it strictly from the standpoint of an educational feature to 

 the farmer and the breeder from the standpoint of profit. As perhaps 

 most of you know, two-year-old steers may be at least thirty-five months 

 of age at the time of the International and at no time during the state 

 fair season could he be more than four months younger. This means 

 that the two-year-old steer has been carried from the age of a junior 

 yearling to a junior two-year-old. His most economical period of growth 

 and gain was made up to the time he was a junior yearling. During the 

 growth and gain of his two-year-old form he, in most cases, made his 

 gains at a loss. 



A year ago, I kept some figures on the two-year-old steer, John Bell, 

 of which bred and raised on the college farm. This steer as a junior 

 yearling was champion steer of the Short-horn breed at the 1911 Inter- 

 national. He was as rapid a gaining steer from a junior yearling to a 

 two-year-old as has ever been fed on the college farm, but even though 

 he was his gains were very expensive and hence unprofitable. 



I am quite convinced from the data that we have at hand that no 

 steer should be exhibited in the single classes that was ipast the 

 senior yearling class. This would mean then that no steer could be ex- 

 hibited that was more than twenty-seven months of age. 



