GENERAL PROBLEMS IN BEEF PRODUCTION 465 



choice feeders, while the selling price was only 75 cents per cwt. less. 

 This made the profit per head slightly larger on the plain steers. 



In a Wisconsin trial by Fuller, Morrison, and McQuillen 28 medium 

 feeders made fully as rapid and economical gains as choice feeders, 

 probably due to the fact that they were not quite so fleshy when placed on 

 feed. The choice feeders cost $1.66 more per cwt. when purchased than 

 the other steers and would have had to sell at $1.19 more per cwt. when 

 finished to break even. However, they actually brought only $.72 per 

 cwt. more on the market than the medium feeders. Consequently the 

 financial outcome was better with the feeders of medium grade. 



In a trial by Do well and Flack at the University of Alberta, Canada, 29 

 common feeders also made about as large gains as those of medium or good 

 type. Their cost per cwt. was $1.62 less than for the good feeders, while 

 their selling price was only 56 cents per cwt. less. Consequently the 

 profit was greater on the commoner cattle. Similar results were secured 

 in a second trial by Dowell and Bowstead in which common feeders were 

 compared with good feeders. 



725. The mast profitable type of steer. For the beef producer who 

 raises the animals he fattens, it is evident that well-bred specimens of 

 the beef breeds are the most profitable. The question is more compli- 

 cated for one who purchases feeders on the market. He must consider 

 the price at which he can secure the various grades and the probable 

 price at which they can be sold when fattened. As Mumford con- 

 cludes: 30 Opportunities for larger profits, and losses as well, lie with 

 the better grades of feeders, for as a rule the price of common, rough, 

 fat steers fluctuates less than the price for prime steers, and the price of 

 inferior and common feeders varies less than those of the choice and 

 fancy grades. The larger the difference in the price of the various 

 grades of feeders, the greater is the advantage in favor of the commoner 

 grades. On the other hand, the larger the difference between the prices 

 for the various grades of fat steers, the greater is the advantage in favor 

 of the better feeders. When prices rule low for beef cattle and the 

 market is dull or downward, the range of prices between prime steers 

 and common rough steers is narrow, and as a result, condition or fatness 

 is more important than beef blood. On account of the greater speculation 

 involved in feeding prime or choice feeders, Mumford advises the begin- 

 ner to first handle a few carloads of the commoner kinds, which must be 

 purchased at correspondingly lower prices, since the margin for profit 

 in feeding low-grade cattle is usually slight. 



726. Gains of steers of various breeds. The most extensive data avail- 

 able concerning the gains made by steers of various breeds are furnished 

 by the records of the Smithfield, England, Fat-Stock Show. 31 The follow- 

 ing table, compiled by the authors from the London Live Stock Journal, 

 summarizes the data for 20 years, 1895 to 1914 : 



"Unpublished data. "111. Bui. 90. 



29 Information to the authors. "London Live Stock Jour. 1895-1914. 



