45 



he should be carried. Steers of poor quality that could not be made 

 into prime finished cattle if fed indefinitely, should be sold before 

 they have become excessively fat. Other conditions being equal, 

 the last 100 pounds of gain required to make a steer prime are the 

 most expensive gains put on the steer, and the increase in selling 

 price must be correspondingly larger to insure profit from the ad- 

 ditional finish. It is obvious, therefore, that the additional gain 

 required to make a steer, of high quality prime, would not be 

 profitable on a steer which would not sell above a medium price if 

 finished, although it might prove exceedingly profitable on an animal 

 capable of finishing into a prime steer that would bring the top of 

 the market. 



The relative supply and cost of grain and roughage to be dis- 

 posed of is a factor which should, in a measure, determine the 

 length of the feeding period. Cattle for short feeding are usually 

 in higher condition at the beginning of the feeding period, and 

 therefore the proportion of grain to roughage consumed is greater 

 than with cattle fed for a longer period. Where feeders wish to 

 dispose of large quantities of roughage, the feeding period is neces- 

 sarily longer than when a larger proportion of concentrates to 

 roughage is to be fed. The study of the results of these trials will 

 show the influence of a number of factors bearing on the question 

 of the advantages of long and short feeding periods. Because the 

 trials of 1909-10 and 1910-11 are so unlike, they are discussed 

 separately with no attempt at correlation. 



i. SHORT vs. LONG FEEDING, 1909-10 



CATTLE USED IN THE EXPERIMENT. The lot of long-fed cattle 

 used in this comparison is the lot described as Lot 3 in Part I. 

 The short-fed cattle in Lot 7 were heavier and somewhat fleshier 

 steers than those used in the long- fed lot. They averaged 1056 

 pounds when started on feed November 17, 1909, while the long-fed 

 lot averaged 897 pounds. The steers used in Lot 8 were the light, 

 thin, medium cattle which were left after the steers for the other 

 seven lots had been selected. On November 23, 1909, these steers 

 averaged 772 pounds. They were wintered on bluegrass pasture 

 and corn-stalk fields. On March 3, 1910, they were brought from 

 the stalk fields, placed in the feed lot and fed clover hay until March 

 17, when they were put into the experiment, averaging 805 pounds, 

 and were valued at $6.00 per cwt. 



