438 NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



the feeder is substantially to enhance the quality of the 

 meat, and the profit of the transaction depends to a consider- 

 able extent upon the difference between buying and selling 

 prices, and includes a large element of speculation. While it 

 is true that the animal which still retains more or less capacity 

 for growth will make the cheaper gains, nevertheless, if the 

 market price of such animals is relatively high compared with 

 that of more mature animals it may be more profitable as a 

 business proposition to feed older animals, even though the 

 feed cost per pound of gain is higher. 



Condition 



513. Decreasing gains in fattening. It is generally admitted 

 that in the case of the nearly mature fattening animal the rate 

 of gain in live weight decreases as the fattening progresses until 

 a limit is reached beyond which the increase, if obtained at all, 

 is slow and very costly. Several causes are responsible for 

 this : - 



First, the maintenance requirement of the animal increases 

 with its gain in weight (393). The capacity of the digestive 

 organs, however, undergoes no corresponding increase, and 

 consequently the amount of excess feed is correspondingly re- 

 duced and its proportion in the ration made less, so that the 

 total feed requirement per unit of gain will be greater. 



Second, the appetite of well-fattened animals not infrequently 

 diminishes, resulting in a lessened consumption of feed. This 

 again has a double effect, diminishing the total amount of excess 

 feed available and reducing the ratio of excess feed to total feed. 



Third, a unit gain in live weight toward the close of the 

 fattening period represents a larger storage of energy than the 

 same gain at the beginning (452). 



514. Effect on economy of gain. For all these reasons it 

 is natural that the " condition " of the animal that is, its 

 state of fatness should have a marked effect on the rate and 

 economy of gain. Georgeson 1 reports the following results 

 for a lot of 3-year-old grade Shorthorn steers, the number of 

 days stated in the table meaning in each case the number from 

 the beginning of the feeding : 



1 Kansas Expt. Sta., Bui. 34, p. 95. 



