42 



a combination of grain and grass in summer cost from 5 cents 

 to 8 cents a pound. The conclusion, therefore, is that the adding 

 of grain to the ration in summer does not tend to cheapen the 

 cost of gain and that cheaper gains could be made by permit- 

 ting the steers to graze without grain. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that the cheapest pos- 

 sible gains are made on grass alone. It should not be forgotten 

 however, that steers when grazed without grain are not ready 

 for the market and must either be sold as grass cattle at a 

 relatively low price, or they must be sold as feeders with suffi- 

 cient margin to enable the buyer to finish them in winter, under 

 less favorable circumstances and at a greater cost than is re- 

 through the expensive period of winter as stockers to be fed out 

 quired to finish them in summer. Or else they must be carried 

 the following summer. In other words, while grass gains are 

 cheap gains, they are likewise low priced gains and leave the 

 animal in an unmarketable condition at the beginning of winter, 

 when it is in less demand than at any other time of year and 

 must be sold at the lowest price of any season of the year. 

 This means that the wintering of cattle and the fattening of 

 cattle are both expensive processes, and were it not for the en- 

 hancement of the value of the steer by these processes over and 

 above the selling value of the mere pounds of gain made, they 

 would both be conducted at a loss. 



The proper comparison, therefore, between summer and 

 winter feeding is: Which method will fit a steer for market 

 in the best way, at the least expense, and in the shortest time, 

 and land him on the market at a season when he will sell to 

 the best advantage. 



Our results as has always been pointed out show that this 

 may be accomplished to the best advantage in summer. 



FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEMANDS OF THE MARKET. 



(1) The season of the year. 



(2) The weight and condition of the cattle. 

 Intimately bound up with the whole matter of profitable 



beef production is the demand of the market. It is not suffi- 

 cient to consider alone the most economical method of produc- 



