3/4 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



to a weight of 160 pounds as readily as inherent capacity 

 in the Southdown would carry him to a weight of 120 

 pounds at the age named. The same line of reasoning will 

 apply to all the large and small breeds of beef and dairy cat- 

 tle, the large and small breeds of sheep, and the large and 

 small breeds of swine. But it is more than probable that 

 the difference in the capacity of the large and small breeds 

 to make increase, lessens as the birth period is approached, 

 and widens as it is receded from. 



Nor is it true that increase in weight during the finish- 

 ing period is almost wholly a question of type. Individual- 

 ity within type exercises an influence on capacity to make 

 increase only secondary to that exercised by type. Animals 

 of similar conformation not infrequently show a difference 

 in capacity to make increase that exceeds 50 per cent, 

 though fed alike. It will also be found true that animals of 

 the small dairy breeds of cattle and of some breeds of sheep, 

 as the American Merino, will have less average capacity for 

 making increase under prolonged feeding than heavier 

 breeds of cattle and sheep, and the same is true, also, of 

 large and small breeds of swine. Capacity to make gains, 

 therefore, is influenced by age, breed and individuality. 



Increase during the finishing period. The increase 

 made during the finishing period and also the rate at which 

 it is made is determined by such conditions as the follow- 

 ing: (i) The age of the animals; (2) their condition as to 

 flesh when put on feed; (3) the nature of the previous feed- 

 ing; (4) the character of the food fed; (5) the intensity of 

 the feeding and (6) the duration of the feeding period. 



That animals of uncompleted growth have capacity 'to 

 make larger increase than those whose growth is com- 

 pleted is in a sense self-evident. The latter can only make 

 increase by putting on fat, whereas the former make it by 

 additional growth as well as by laying on fat. They may 

 also be expected to make it more cheaply by that law of de- 

 velopment which claims that increase can be made more 

 rapidly and cheaply, the nearer to the birth period that it 

 is made. 



