COST OF MAKING BEEF FROM CORN. 251 



of food contributes to the formation of fat. Thus in 

 regard to beef, as we before found in the case of corn, 

 the profit lies in the last additions made to the cost of 

 production.* 



Here, then, arises the twofold question, What is the 

 amount of provender that will keep an animal station- 

 ary ? and what amount of corn or other feed, in addi- 

 tion to this, is required for each pound of fat that is 

 formed ? 



Now we have already seen that neat cattle con- 

 sume, on an average, two and a half per cent, daily 

 of their weight in hay, or its equivalent. If they re- 

 ceive less than this, they fall away ; if more than this, 

 they increase. If, then, a steer weighing seven hun- 

 dred pounds is fed one hundred and twenty pounds 

 of hay, or chaffed stalks, per week, or any other food 

 equivalent to these, he will hold his condition. If, in 

 addition to this, he receives fifty-six pounds of corn 

 per week, he will increase in weight. In order to 

 know definitely what the gain would be in this case, 

 let us endeavor to determine the effective value of 

 corn in the production of beef. 



Mr. G. H. Chase, of Cayuga County, K Y., found 

 by experiment, as reported in the Country Gentleman, 

 that twenty-eight quarts of ground barley per week 

 gave an average increase of eighteen pounds of flesh ; 

 but ground barley contains less than one-fourth the 

 percentage of fatty matter that belongs to Indian 



* This principle is equally true in all cases of feeding, whether the 

 object is beef, butter, cheese, pork, or mutton. 



