723 



TABLE: II. Showing Average Daily Gain per Steer by Months, 

 November 17, 1911, to April 25, 1912 (160 days) 



It will be noted that very poor gains were made the fifth month. 

 This is due to some extent to the increased fleshiness of the cattle 

 but can be accounted for more largely by the fact that the weather 

 had been very cold until that time and the yards had been frozen 

 so that the cattle were not in the mud, but in March the ground 

 thawed and the atmosphere became humid with the result that the 

 cattle did not eat well and made poor gains. Table II shows that 

 Lot 3 fed corn, cottonseed meal and corn silage without hay made 

 the fastest gains. This is not in accord with results secured in the 

 two previous trials in which the gains of Lots I and 4 were faster 

 than those of Lot 3. The exceedingly good showing of Lot 3 is prob- 

 ably due to some extent to the high per cent, of dry matter in the 

 silage, because results indicate that the more mature the corn when 

 put into the silo, the better are the results secured from feeding it to 

 cattle. The rate of gain in the three lots fed clover hay did not vary 

 greatly but the variation was slightly in favor of Lot 2. This again 

 is contrary to previous trials 1 in which the addition of silage in- 

 creased the rate of gain. This rate of gain can easily be accounted 

 for in Lot 4 by the appetites of the cattle during a part of 

 the trial but the steers in Lot i were apparently normal in every par- 

 ticular. These variations in the results of experiments serve as a 

 good example of the necessity of repeating trials several times be- 

 fore final conclusions are drawn in order to avoid errors due to con- 

 ditions not under the control of investigators. 



1 Bulletins Nos. 136 and 153 



