39 



The feeds of all kinds must be palatable or fed with great skill. 

 Palatableuess is not necessarily nutritive in effect, but induces free 

 consumption, the taking in of a goodly proportion of excess food. 

 Foods vary in palatableness, and some unpalatable ones must at 

 times be given. These may be fed at the time of day when appe- 

 tite is best, and for the coarse foods in small amount, kept replen- 

 ished and in fresh form so long as they are accepted. In a large 

 ration its most palatable portions will be selected, and the balance 

 breathed on and drooled over and finally rejected. 



Nothing has been said about the balanced ration and an immense 

 amount of scientific and practical data passed over. The balanced 

 ration ramifies into other questions and requires too much elabora- 

 tion for presentation here. Indeed, if feeding follows the lines laid 

 down the balanced ration may be safely ignored. 



The Cost of Beef. 

 An approximate estimate of the cost of growing 1,250 pounds of 

 steer can be made from existing data. Careful calculations show 

 that the manure of the purchased grains, if protein or rich in nitro- 

 gen, will pay rent of building and attendance or care of cattle, and 

 more than do this if the attendant's time is fully occupied. The 

 grains for a series of years will probably be secured for 1 cent a 

 pound. The coarse foods may be rated at SlO per ton. Passing 

 the details by months and roughly approximating the averages I 

 estimate the 600 pounds steer — the average growing weight of the 

 one under consideration — to consume in the 700 days allotted for 

 his growth, covering two winters, with 4 pounds per day the first 

 winter after October birth, 3 pounds to pasture during the first 

 summer, G pounds per day the second winter and summer, 3,350 

 pounds of grain, or 0.78 per cent of live weight daily. He will 

 consume of hay, or coarse food in the equivalent of ha}', 2 per cent 

 of live weight daily, or 5,300 pounds, costing §26.50. Pasturing 

 first year S4 and S6 the second year. No skim-milk is included, as 

 grain and hay are included from the start in amounts fully covering 

 the cost of skim-milk. The total cost is .S70 or 5.6 cents per pound 

 live weight. 



The type of steer in question is likely to remain worth more 

 than this by several dollars. At 6i cents live weight his value 

 would be S81.25. 



I am aware that questions for debate are involved, and that in 

 a sense little direct profit is shown. The business of farming in 

 New England is that of crop growth, stock feeding being a 

 method of acquiring the manure to feed the crops. If these crops 



