1895.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 115 



2. GENERAL SUMMARY OF FEEDING EXPERI- 

 MENTS AVITH GROWING STEERS. 



By J. B. Lestdsey. 



1890-94. 



A series of feeding experiments with growing steers has 

 l^een carried on at the station since December, 1890, and the 

 details published in the successive annual reports. The last 

 experiment was comjjleted in April, 1894. It seems proper 

 at this tune to attempt to present a general summari/ of the 

 results obtained. 



The steers experimented with during these four to fiv^e 

 years were ten in number, of which seven were grade Short- 

 horns and three grade Durhams. They were generally 

 bought in the autumn, and weighed about 600 })ounds each. 

 These were termed "yearlings." At the beginning of the 

 second winter season they had increased to about 1,000 

 pounds weight, and were termed "two-year-olds." There 

 was one exception in case of the three steers fed during 

 1893 ; these were purchased in the spring of 1893, soiled 

 during the summer and sold in the spring of 1894, Five 

 of the steers were pastured during the summer and five were 

 soiled. 



Among the questions to which answers were sought were 

 the following : — 



I. What are the most economical fodder rations for beef 

 production ? 



II. The actual cost of beer production in Massachusetts 

 under existing local conditions, 



III. The average daily gain in live weight during an 

 entire experiment. 



IV. Dry matter required to produce one pound of live 

 weight. 



V. The relative merits and cost of pasture r.s. soiling 

 during the summer season. 



