EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III. 117 



have tlie cattle about the same weight. It would not do to compare 

 yearlings with the two-year old. In the first experiment the year- 

 lings weighed about 800 pounds apiece. You will notice on com 

 and prairie hay the gain was small, 1.35 ; where as on shelled com 

 and alfalfa it was 1.97. You will notice the figures for the next 

 two years, on shelled corn and alfalfa and snapped corn and alfalfa 

 and snapped com and prairie hay. The average for the three 

 years on corn and prairie hay is 1.48 ; on com and alfalfa, 2.11. 

 The wide contrast per year in favor of the use of alfalfa is to be 

 noticed. But what you are interested in mostly is the cost of pro- 

 duction. 



Now, let me say this : the statement was made a while ago in the 

 previous discussion that the cattle will gain 21/^ to 2% pounds per 

 day. In this experiment where we weigh them three or four times 

 every month, and where they are molested by visitors a good deal, 

 we can not get the gains you can on the farm. 



I am not going to refer to all the figures on the foregoing chart. 

 Now, as to the amount of grain consumed, you will see that the 

 yearling took 14.30 pounds per day, and the next year about 18 

 pounds per day. 



Now, you are most interested in the cost of the gains. Figuring 

 alfalfa and prairie hay each at $6 a ton, and com worth this year, 

 33, 35 to 39, taking an average of 36 cents per bushel. The cost of 

 gain on com and prairie hay is $8.27, and the cost of gain on com 

 and alfalfa is $6.04, snapped com and prairie hay, $5.49 ; corn and 

 alfalfa, $6.29. 



Now, that looks like a big cost, and as the previous speaker 

 pointed out, you cannot make a profit on cattle feed unless they are 

 sold considerably over the cost price. You cannot aiford to feed 

 cattle on just what they will gain ; you have got to sell them at an 

 advance. These cattle were sold at an advance averaging $1.25 

 per hundred. At that advance over the cost price, the profit the 

 first year on prairie hay and corn was 38 cents per head ; on shelled 

 com and alfalfa $8.66, the second year on shelled corn 

 and prairie hay there was a loss of $1.13, and on shelled corn 

 and alfalfa, a profit of $2.86. The third year there was a loss on 

 prairie hay of 8 cents per head. But take the average for three 

 years and the loss on com and prairie hay is 27 cents per steer. 

 Figuring these profits and losses, the feeds were figured at market 

 price in the city of Lincoln ; at the farm, feeds would be consumed 

 for less than that. 



A Voice : Not in this state. 



