8i 



they can be bought. Our invariable answer is not to feed the 

 cattle, but to either sell them to someone who has hogs or to 

 keep them until hogs may be safely used. This advice does not 

 of course apply with as much force to weanling calves where 

 one is fixed for grinding the grain and has an abundant supply 

 of choice clover or cowpea hay to go with it, but even then 

 the hog gains will help out materially in the operation. One 

 cannot, however, afford to equip for grinding grain to feed 

 a single bunch of cattle, and, as has already been pointed out, 

 when hogs are healthy the grinding is not, as a rule, profita- 

 ble. 



THE BUYING MARGIN OR THE MARGIN OF PROFIT. 



These are the terms commonly employed by the feeder to 

 designate the difference between the cost of the steer when put 

 in the feed lot and the price per pound it brings when finished. 

 In other words, if 'the cattle cost 4 cents per pound when ready 

 to be put on fef x d, and brought 5^ cents per pound when fin- 

 ished, the so-cilled margin of profit would be i cents per 

 pound, or, as is commonly stated, $1.50 per hundred. That it 

 is necessary to have some margin or spread between the cost 

 of the thin steer and the selling price of the fat one, in order 

 to make th<; feeding operation even pay expenses in many cases, 

 and pay n profit, in the average case, it is only necessary for the 

 student to compare the cost of gains made in the fattening pro- 

 cess, a ; shown by accurate experiments at the various Stations 

 with i;he average selling price of such cattle on the market. 

 In other words, a cost of 6 cents to 8 cents per pound for tnc 

 whole gains made in the fattening period is very common. It is 

 possible, in fact not improbable, that the steers when finished 

 will not sell above 5-J cents per pound. Assuming that the cost 

 of this gain was 7-J cents per pound and that it sold for 5^ 

 cents, there is a direct loss of 2 cents on every pound of gain 

 made. If, therefore, the steer has been made to gain 250 pounds 

 in the fattening process, and there has been a deficit of 2 cents 

 per pound in making it, the steer has lost the feeder $5.00. 

 This is of course on the assumption that there has been no 

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