THE COST OF RAISING CALVES 165 



corn meal, and 40.2 lbs. ha3^ These calves were carefully 

 watched and closely fed so that no fattening occurred. The 

 average weekly cost of food for each calf would have been on 

 our basis. 32 cents, and the average weekly gain was 8.75 

 lbs. 



For the period covered by these experiments the average 

 weekly cost of our calves was approximately 44.2 cents, and 

 the average weekly gain 9.5 lbs. 



At the Kansas Experiment Station, as reported in Bulletin 

 72, the amounts of foods consumed by a number of young ani- 

 mals was carefully recorded during the winter months. Two 

 Shorthorn heifers between the ages of 7 1-2 and 9 1-2 months, 

 fed on hay, silage and grain, made an average weekly gain of 

 12.4 lbs. each, and the weekly cost of food would have been 

 on our basis 44.5 cents. 



Five heifers, one Hereford, and four Jerseys, fed on hav, 

 grain, and a few mangels, between the ages of 11 and 16 

 months, made an average weekly gain of 9 lbs. each, and the 

 weekly cost of their food would have been 58 cents per head. 



The cost of our calves for a similar period was 65 cents per 

 week. 



The Wisconsin Experiment Station, in its annual Report for 

 18S6, gives the results of feeding sixteen steers and heifers in 

 one lot. These animals between the ages of 7 and 12 months, 

 were fed for iS weeks on hay, corn silage, corn stover, and 

 grain, and during this period made an average weekly gain of 

 6.9 lbs. per head and the weekly cost of their food would have 

 been 48.7 cents per week. 



The cost of two heifers at our station for a similar period 

 was 58 cents per week. 



To ascertain the essential causes of the higher cost of our 

 heifers when compared with the young stock fed in Kansas and 

 Wisconsin, whose cost was calculated after our schedule, it 

 was found that our older lot of heifers received an average per 

 head of 4.1 lbs. grain and 11 lbs. hay, daily, while the five Kan- 

 sas heifers received an average per head of 5.5 lbs. grain, and 

 4.9 lbs. hay, with a little silage and mangels. 



The younger lot of our heifers received an average daily ration 

 per head of 4.4 lbs. grain and 9.3 lbs. hay while the 16 Wis- 



