FARM ANIMALS 133 



Age and Cost of Gain. The hundreds of feed- 

 ing experiments which have been carried out 

 with steers show conclusively that the rate of gain 

 is greater in young animals and decreases with 

 the increase in age. This is true not only of 

 steers, but also of sheep, hogs and poultry. It 

 is of considerable economic importance, there- 

 fore, to bring steers to market maturity as early 

 as possible, since the greater the gain the greater 

 the profit and the less the cost in caring for the 

 animals. Statistics based on more than fifty 

 thousand cattle fed under careful observation 

 show that the rate of gain in yearlings is nearly 

 twice that of four-year-olds. 



The question is frequently asked how returns 

 from beef cattle may be increased. When this 

 question was proposed to Illinois beef raisers a 

 variety of opinions were given, but the majority 

 considered that the best results would be obtained 

 from the use of more well-bred cattle, more 

 intelligent use of feeds, cheaper stockers and feeders, 

 cheaper feeds, more pasture of good quality and 

 better care of cattle. In Massachusetts the ques- 

 tion has been answered by farmers essentially in 

 the same way, since they recommend in order to 

 obtain greater returns from feeding cattle that 

 better strains should be used, better feeding meth- 

 ods adopted, steers should be brought to ma- 

 turity earlier and pastures should be improved. 

 Likewise in Alabama the essentials to the highest 

 profit in beef production are considered to be 

 the use of thoroughbred bulls, abundance of good 

 pasture, extension of the cultivation of cowpeas, 

 alfalfa, sorghum and other similar crops, and 

 the employment of men better acquainted with 

 the management of beef cattle. 



