132 FARM ANIMALS 



in summer. The feeding effectiveness of different 

 grains has been mentioned above. The amount 

 of hay required for one hundred pounds of gain 

 varies in the experience of farmers from four 

 hundred to one thousand pounds. These points, 

 however, are really not observed carefully enough 

 by the average feeder. The length of the feeding 

 period has been found to exercise an influence 

 on the rate of gain. Thus, cattle gain most 

 readily at the beginning of the forcing period and 

 gradually diminish in the rate of gain until finally 

 no further gain is possible. This point seems to 

 be at the limit of the animals' toleration for a 

 forcing ration. This fact, therefore, should have 

 some influence in determining the length of the 

 feeding period. In Canada it has been found 

 from careful computations that the cost of one 

 hundred pounds of gain for a one hundred and 

 sixty day period is $10.50 and for a one hundred 

 and seventeen day period $12.75, the average 

 daily gain during a feeding period of one hundred 

 and nineteen days was one and eight-tenths 

 pounds, while the average daily gain in a period 

 of one hundred and seventy-four days was one 

 and six-tenths pounds. 



Numerous experiments have been made regard- 

 ing the value of exercise for steers during the fat- 

 tening period. In Canada it has been found in 

 a test of fattening tied and loose steers in stalls 

 that the loose steers made a larger absolute gain 

 than the tied steers and at a smaller cost. The 

 rate of gain per day was also higher in the loose 

 steers. In nearly all feeding experiments where 

 attention has been given to the value of size in 

 steers it has been found that there is more profit 

 in a heavy than a light steer. 



