106 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



Between the test periods were transitional periods of two or 

 three weeks during which time gradual changes were made in 

 the ration. Table 1 shows the test periods, the experimental 

 weeks included in each, and the proportions of hay, corn and 

 linseed meal in the ration of each period. 



INFLUENCE OF AMOUNT OF RATION 



The practical cattle feeder assumes that the larger the 

 amount of feed fattening cattle consume the more efficient will 

 be the gains. This assumption is based upon the fact that a 

 certain amount of feed is required for maintenance under any 

 condition. Consequently, the larger the amount of feed con- 

 sumed, the more there is above the maintenance requirement 

 available for production, and consequently the ration should be 

 more efficient. 



On the other hand, experiments at the Illinois, Missouri and 

 other stations show that large rations are not as completely 

 digested as smaller ones, especially when there is a consider- 

 able amount of crude fiber in the ration. Consequently, if one 

 considers only the digestibility of the ration, one would expect 

 the efficiency to be lessened as the ration is increased. Thus 

 in studying the influence of the amount of ration upon effi- 

 ciency, both of these factors, working in opposite directions, 

 must be considered. 



Table 1 shows the average amount of feed consumed per 

 head daily by each lot during the different test periods. It 

 will be noted from this table that the full feed consumed only a 

 moderately heavy ration. Also it is seen that the amount of 

 feed consumed decreased after Period 2. 



The individual weights of the steers at the beginning and 

 end of each period are given in Table 2. The average daily 

 gains for each period and for the entire experiment are given 

 in Table 3. 



Disregarding the maintenance lot for obvious reasons, it is 

 seen that the rate of gain decreased regularly during Periods 

 1, 2 and 3, even though the proportion of roughage to concen- 

 trates was considerably decreased. After the introduction of 

 the linseed meal in Period 4 the gains were increased consider- 

 ably. 



