70 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



two of each of other breeds alone has been awarded as high 

 points for the Jersey or dairy type. But one animal, and 

 this standing alone among all other judgments, cannot be 

 accepted as of any worth. 



There is profit in the best type and loss in the other. 

 We must command the best or avoid the business. One- 

 half the trouble with beef production east is in wasting 

 good food on poor foundations. The quotations of present 

 markets show a range of prices varying 33 per cent on 

 steers and oxen. All food at present prices put into the 

 poorer steers is put there at a loss, yet this is the type 

 prevalent in New England. 



The west is putting its cheap food into the very best type 

 of modern beef-producing machines ; we, high-priced food 

 into the poorest. 



While there is but little difference in the growth made 

 by the several breeds for a given amount of food, the varia- 

 tions between individuals may be marked in their power 

 to consume, digest and assimilate food. Thus in two lots 

 of steers fed by me at the New Hampshire Experiment 

 Station it was found: Lot 1, first period, ate 2,172 pounds 

 of hay and 440 pounds of grain, and gained 05 pounds; 

 Lot 2 ate 2,500 pounds of hay and lost 12 pounds. Lot 1, 

 second period, ate 2,725 pounds of hay and gained 113 

 pounds ; Lot 2 ate 2,145 pounds of hay and 500 pounds of 

 grain and gained 117 pounds. It will be seen that Lot 1 in 

 the first period used the grain partially as excess food, while 

 Lot 2 in the second period used 500 pounds of grain in 

 exchange for 585 pounds of hay. Lot 1 ate in the two 

 periods 5,335 pounds and required 30 pounds of food for 1 

 of gain, while Lot 2 ate in both periods 5,145 pounds and 

 required for 1 of gain 49 pounds of food. 



Those steers weighing 1,000 pounds were not, as will be 

 seen by the ration, fed for rapid growth but as a test on 

 moderate rations of individual capacity to use food. Steers 

 of good appetites and digestive and assimilative powers 

 must be bred and selected. 



