452 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



profitable to produce baby beef, selling the animals when 20 months old 

 or less. 



To determine the relative cost of gains by steers of different ages but 

 of the same breeding, Gramlich fed 10 calves and the same number of 

 yearlings and 2-year-olds at the Nebraska Station. 5 All the steers were of 

 the same breeding and had been raised on the same ranch. The steers 

 were all fed for 200 days on rations of shelled corn, linseed meal, alfalfa 

 hay, and corn silage. At the end of this period the 2-year-olds averaged 

 1,226 Ibs., the yearlings, 1,004 Ibs., and the calves 781 Ibs. The carcasses 

 of the yearlings were ideal, while the 2-year-olds were rather fat and the 

 calves showed a slight lack of finish. During the trial the yearlings and 

 the 2-year-olds made the same gains, 2.21 Ibs. per head daily, and the 

 calves gained 2.0 Ibs. daily. 



The feed cost of 100 Ibs. gain was $8.94 for the 2-year-olds, $7.68 for 

 the yearlings, and only $6.93 for the calves. All the steers were pur- 

 chased for the same price per cwt. as feeders, tho quite commonly calves 

 cost more per cwt. than older steers. At the end of the trial the calves 

 could have been sold for $1.50 less per cwt. and the yearlings for $0.70 

 less per cwt. than the 2-year-olds and break even on the transaction. 

 The calves actually sold for as high a price as the 2-year-olds and for 

 only 25 cents less than the yearlings. Consequently, while money was 

 lost on the 2-year-olds, owing to the slump in the price of fat cattle in 

 the spring of 1921, the calves and the yearlings returned a profit over 

 the cost of feed and marketing. In a second trial the following year, in 

 which the steers were fed corn and alfalfa hay, similar results were 

 secured. 



In a trial at the Kansas Station 6 by McCampbell, Bell, and Winchester, 

 a lot of baby beeves fed for 150 days gained 2.62 Ibs. per head daily on a 

 ration of ground corn, linseed meal, alfalfa hay, and sorghum silage, 

 while 2-year-old steers fed the same feeds for 120 days gained 3.11 Ibs. 

 per head daily. The feed cost of 100 Ibs. gain was 26 per ct. higher for 

 the 2-year-olds than for the calves. 



Tho yearlings will usually make a trifle cheaper gains than 2-year-olds, 

 much depends on the condition and type of the cattle, and sometimes the 

 older steers will make the more economical gains. For example, in a 

 trial by Bohstedt at the Ohio Station 7 2 lots of yearlings, averaging 636 

 Ibs. in weight when placed on feed, gained 2.44 Ibs. per head daily, with 

 a feed cost per 100 Ibs. gain of $8.14 after crediting the corn utilized by 

 the pigs following the steers. Two-year-olds averaging 921 Ibs. in initial 

 weight, gained 2.90 Ibs. a head daily at a feed cost per 100 Ibs. gain of 

 only $7.75. 



713. Influence of degree of fatness. Experienced cattle feeders know 

 that it never pays to carry fattening cattle to an unnecessarily high 

 1 1 finish, ' ' or degree of fatness. This is because gains produced when an 

 animal is already fairly well fleshed are unduly expensive. Impelled by 



Information to the authors. 6 Kan. Cir. 77. 'Information to the authors. 



