MEAT PRODUCTION 443 



will have the larger surplus for growth or fattening and, other 

 things being equal, will make the greater increase per unit of 

 total feed. To what extent a lower maintenance requirement 

 is characteristic of high-bred meat-producing animals remains 

 to be determined. If it appears to be a general fact, it would 

 go far toward explaining any superiority on the part of the latter. 

 It is not impossible, also, that differences in the amount of 

 muscular activity may play a more important part in fattening 

 than in the experiments on maintenance hitherto reported. In 

 the latter, the experimental conditions necessitated consider- 

 able restriction of the freedom of motion, while under the con- 

 ditions of practice a wider scope may perhaps be afforded to 

 the individuality of the animal in this respect. 



518. Feed consumption. Another important element of 

 individual superiority is the ability of an animal to consume 

 regularly large amounts of feed. Of two animals otherwise 

 similar, it is clear that the one which is able to consume day 

 after day the heavier ration is the better meat producer. It is 

 not always realized, however, that the heavier feeder makes a 

 relatively more profitable use of his feed because, as pointed 

 out in Chapter VIII (360), assuming the maintenance require- 

 ment to be the same, the productive part of the ration forms a 

 larger part of the total ration in the case of the large eater. 

 Consequently, since all the feed must be paid for, this animal 

 makes the more economical gain, not because he utilizes his 

 excess feed better but simply because he is able to consume 

 more of it. 



There are doubtless marked differences between individual 

 animals in this respect. Whether the specific meat-producing 

 breeds as a whole possess any advantage in this respect appears 

 doubtful in view of the results on record regarding the feed cost 

 of gain with different breeds. Apparently the quality is one 

 to which the attention of breeders has not been specially di- 

 rected, yet it is one which, it would seem, might well repay 

 attention. 



519. Type and conformation. It is a well-recognized fact 

 that the conformation of a meat animal is a very important 

 factor in determining his selling price. The improved meat 

 breeds as a rule show a higher ratio of dressed to live weight, 

 a better distribution of fat in the finished carcass, a somewhat 



