130 FARM ANIMALS 



in this test appeared to be about the same as in 

 the previous one. The results from feeding molas- 

 ses and sugar are not uniform. In a set of ex- 

 periments in Scotland the growth of steers was 

 somewhat checked and they went off feed when 

 fed sugar in rations of one to two pounds per 

 day. 



Feeding Methods. A number of matters con- 

 nected with the profitable feeding of steers remain 

 to be considered. Statistics collected among over 

 five hundred cattle raisers in Illinois show that 

 about forty per cent, of them found the most profit 

 in fattening steers in summer, twenty-six per 

 cent, in fall, twenty per cent, in spring and four- 

 teen per cent, in winter. It has been found that 

 about thirty days must be allowed to get cattle 

 on full feed after the fattening ration is begun. 

 The period usually occupied by feeders in working 

 up from a maintenance ration to a fattening 

 ration varies from fifteen to forty days. The 

 length of the fattening period varies extremely 

 under different conditions, ranging from three to 

 six months. From the standpoint of economy, 

 it is profitable to feed steers so long as they are 

 gaining regularly a pound a day. It will be found 

 in practice that some steers begin to lose appetite 

 after a fattening period of one hundred and fifty 

 days. In Minnesota it has been found that steers 

 give a much greater profit from a medium grain 

 ration for one hundred and forty days than when 

 forced on a large grain ration for eighty-four days. 

 Not all steers can be depended upon to endure 

 sufficient forcing to put them in a market condi- 

 tion in so short a period as eighty-four days. The 

 southern feeder will do well to begin feeding his 

 cattle not later than November fifteenth to Decem- 



