454 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



to him to sell a load of steers that would ' * top the market, " he knows that 

 oftentimes this reduces rather than increases the net return. 



The wastefulness of carrying cattle to an extreme degree of fatness is 

 well shown in a trial by Trowbridge, Moulton, and Haigh at the Missouri 

 Station 8 in which one steer was slaughtered before fattening, at a weight 

 of 756 Ibs., and the entire carcass analyzed. Another was slaughtered 

 after being fed a fattening ration for 153 days, when it weighed 1,266 

 Ibs. and would have graded as a choice steer but lacked 40 to 50 days of 

 feeding of being in prime condition. A third was fed until it reached 

 the weight of 1,805 Ibs., when it was in extremely fat condition. Com- 

 pared with the animal slaughtered before fattening, it was found that 

 the 1,266-lb. steer had stored in its body 152.6 Ibs. lean meat and 151.7 

 Ibs. fatty tissue. From this stage of fattening onward the gains are 

 chiefly fatty tissue. Compared with this 1,266-lb. steer, the 1,805-lb. very 

 fat steer had stored 255.5 Ibs. more fatty tissue and only 89.5 Ibs. more 

 lean meat. Furthermore, for each pound of gain in weight the 1,266-lb. 

 steer had required only 4.51 Ibs. digestible organic nutrients in its feed, 

 while the very fat steer had consumed 8.16 Ibs. Concerning the economic 

 loss thru fattening animals to such an extreme degree, Moulton well con- 

 cludes : ' ' As conditions are now, a large amount of the corn produced in 

 the Mississippi Valley is converted into animal fat, which is not used for 

 human food but finds its way into the sewer or soap factory/' 



714. Length of feeding period. The length of the feeding period needed 

 to finish cattle depends on the method of feeding followed and on the 

 age and condition of the cattle when placed on feed. When the steers 

 are fed roughage with only a limited allowance of concentrates, the fatten- 

 ing process will take considerably longer than where they are rapidly 

 brought to full feed and then crowded with all the concentrates they will 

 eat. Obviously, much less time is required to finish steers already in 

 good flesh when started on feed than those in leaner condition. Such 

 fleshy feeders are commonly * ' short-fed ;' ' i.e., fed for 90 to 100 days or 

 less on a heavy allowance of concentrates. Thin steers must be "long- 

 fed ; ' ' i.e., fed for a considerably longer period, during the first part of 

 which often little or no grain is fed other than that in the silage. When 

 grain is high in price, long-fed steers may even be fed no other grain 

 thruout the entire fattening period. (715-6) 



These two methods of beef production were compared in trials during 

 4 winters by Skinner and Cochel at the Indiana Station. 9 Each winter 

 a lot of fleshy feeders was fed for periods* aver aging 110 days, while 

 a lot of steers in thinner flesh was fed the same feeds for periods 

 averaging 175 days. As is shown in the following table, the average 

 daily gain of the short-fed steers was 2.81 Ibs. and the average gain per 

 head, 307 Ibs. The average daily gain of the long-fed steers was 2.46 Ibs. 

 and the average gain per head needed to get them to the same finish as the 

 short-fed steers was 431 Ibs. 



8 Mo. Res. Bui. 30. Ind. Buls. 130, 136, 153. 



