92 



TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



In September, 1892, Wilson and Curtiss, of the Iowa Ex- 

 periment Station,* purchased five steers and ten heifers and 

 began an experiment to determine whether a discrimination 

 against fat heifers is justifiable. All of these cattle were year- 

 ling grade Shorthorns, all sired by the same bull. Five of the 

 heifers were spayed soon after purchase, and all fifteen head 

 were roughed until January 4, 1893, when they were grain-fed 

 for eleven months, and then shipped to Chicago. There they 

 were sold on the open market to Swift & Co., who made slaughter 

 and block tests of the animals. The results of the experiment 

 are condensed into the following table: 



The returns made by the heifers to Swift & Co. would 

 have justified a purchase price of $5.37 per cwt. for the spayed 

 heifers and $5.32 for the open heifers, instead of $4.75 for each, 

 and still have left the same margin of profit as in the steers. It 

 is clear, then, that the difference in the live-weight value of the 



* la. Bui. 24. 



