382 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



of increase the first four weeks of feeding, 461 pounds the 

 second four, and 559 pounds the third four. The difference 

 in relative cost was proportionate. 



Under some conditions, however, it is possible to make 

 100 pounds of increase more cheaply at some distance from 

 the birth period, and also from the commencement of the 

 fattening period, than earlier. The growing of young 

 animals, especially cattle, during the milk period, is more 

 costly relatively than at a later period, because of the 

 difference in the relative value of the foods. Milk and 

 grain furnish the principal portion of the food of young 

 animals for a time. Later they are usually maintained on 

 coarser and cheaper foods, more especially on pasture. One 

 hundred pounds of increase may, therefore, be made more 

 cheaply on the coarser food thus given, because of its 

 relative cheapness, notwithstanding the increase in the 

 amount consumed. Likewise when cattle are partly fat- 

 tened on dry food and are then finished on grass or grass 

 and grain, the increase made on the latter may be made 

 more cheaply than that made before turning out on grass. 

 At the Iowa experiment station, it was found that from 

 March to May, covering 92 days, steers fed on a ration of 

 corn meal, oil meal, hay and roots, made 100 pounds of 

 increase at a cost of $5.93. The same steers maintained 

 for a similar period immediately following on a ration 

 of corn meal and clover pasture made similar increase at a 

 cost of $4.31. 



The cost of increase varies with variations in the cost 

 of food. Because of this, the same class of meat will 

 cost much more in one locality than another. It has been 

 estimated that during recent years the cost of making 100 

 pounds of increase during the fattening period was from 

 $2 to $3 more than the cost of the same in the Mississippi 

 states. 



Gains when fattening not worth their cost. During 

 the finishing period, the increase made is more or less in- 

 fluenced by the following conditions, viz : ( i ) The in- 

 dividuality of the animal; (2) the stage in development at 



