126 
IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
enough age to be used for short feeding. This steer, though making a 
gain of 2.63 lbs. daily, required six months to be made prime. The fourth 
illustration is that of a car load of "short fed" cattle which were ex- 
hibited at the International of 1907 and won first prize and champion- 
ship for "short fed" cattle. A complete record of this feeding is given 
in Bulletin 130 published by Purdue Experiment Station, Lafayette, Ind. 
They were ideal steers in every respect for short feeding purposes. 
During the past two winters we have fed cattle to determine the relative 
advantage of short vs. long feeding periods. A great deal of thought was 
put on the kind of ration that would insure a maximum amount of gain 
and still not be unavailable or too expensive for practical use. It was 
decided to use in these tests a ration of shelled corn, cotton seed meal, 
clover hay and corn silage, which has given us an average daily gain 
per steer of 3.16 pounds in the "short fed" lot and 2.57 pounds in the 
"long fed" lot during the first test; of 2.85 pounds in the "short fed" lot 
and 2.66 pounds in the "long fed" lot during the second test. It would 
have been impossible to secure such results from a ration of ear corn 
and timothy hay, shock corn and wheat straw or similar rations which 
are frequently used throughout the corn belt. The one selected had 
these points in its favor; it was palatable, succulent and something near 
a balanced ration and could be available on nearly every farm. 
SHORT vs. LONG FEEDING. 
Winter 1906-07 
Winter 1907-08 
Short Fed 
Long Fed 
Short Fed 
Long Fed 
Length of period 
90 days 
$ 4.50 
1175 lbs. 
3.161bs. 
21.19 lbs. 
2.74 
3.15 
15.00 
6.70 lbs. 
.86 
.99 
4.74 
$ 6.98 
8.17 
$ 4.98 
5.21 
5.35 
180 days 
$ 4.25 
1010 lbs. 
2.57 lbs. 
16.66 lbs. 
2.99 
3.93 
15.01 
6.47 lbs. 
1.16 
1.52 
5.82 
$ 7.59 
8.74 
$ 5.29 
5.66 
5.60 
110 days 
$ 4.50 
1287 lbs. 
2.85 lbs. 
21.67 lbs. 
2.40 
4.53 
14.09 
7.60 lbs. 
.84 
1.58 
4.94 
$ 7. 3 
9.21 
$ 5.15 
5.42 
5.75 
180 days 
$ 4.00 
1123 lbs. 
2 66 lbs 
Initial value . 
Initial weight 
Daily gain per head. 
Daily feed per steer: 
Shelled corn 
19 01 lbs. 
Cotton seed meal 
2 70 
Clover hay 
Corn silage 
Feed per lb. gain: 
Shelled coin. 
4.51 
14.99 
7 15 lbs 
Cotton seed meal 
1.02 
Clover hay 
1.69 
Corn silage 
Cost of grain per cwt. : 
Corn at 40c 
5.64 
$ 7 91 
Corn at 50c 
9 18 
Necessary selling price to 
break even: 
Corn at 40c". 
$ 5 16 
Corn at 50c 
5.54 
Actual market value 
6.70 
It will be seen from the table that the "short fed" cattle made the 
most rapid gain, consumed a greater proportion of grain to roughage, 
made cheaper gains and required a smaller margin between buying and 
selling prices in order to break even. In the first test it required 284.7 
pounds per head to finish the "short fed' cattle and 463.7 pounds to 
make the "long fed" cattle equally fat. In the second test 313.5 pounds 
for the "short fed" and 478.6 pounds for the "long fed" cattle. The 
