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change in the value of the carcass by the addition of this fat, and 

 that the steer cost $5.50 per hundred in thin condition and sold 

 for $5.50 per hundred in a fat condition. Under such a regime, 

 the fattening of cattle at anything like the present prices would 

 be wholly out of the question. This situation has been met, in 

 commerce, not by making the finished steer sell for a high 

 enough price to directly meet the cost of gains during the fat- 

 tening process and pay a profit, which would require that steers 

 bring from 6 to 10 cents per pound on the market, but by low- 

 ering the price at which the steer in a thin condition may be 

 bought, or by making the raiser sell to the feeder at a lower 

 price per pound than the animal will bring on the market when 

 fattened. In other words, the burden of this fattening opera- 

 tion has been put upon the cattle raiser rather than upon the 

 packer and the meat consumer. 



Therefore, the value of a steer is enhanced by the fattening 

 process out of all proportion to the value of the pounds of gain 

 made. Assuming that the steer in its unfinished condition, com- 

 monly known as a feeder, costs 4 cents per pound, and that the 

 same steer when fat brings 5^ cents per pound, there is an en- 

 hancement of value on all of the live weight the steer had when 

 the feeding operation began, of i-| cents per pound. Assuming 

 that the steer weighs 1,000 pounds as a feeder, this same 1,000 

 pounds of live weight is worth $15.00 more when loaded with 

 fat than when thin. This, of course, in addition to the value 

 of whatever the steer may have gained in the process. If the 

 steer gained 250 pounds in the fattening process, then this gain, 

 at the market price of the steer would have a value of $13.75, 

 which, when added to- the $15.00 of increased value of the car- 

 cass bought as a feeder, would make a total increase in the 

 value of the steer of $28.75 with which to pay the expenses of 

 the fattening operation and derive a profit. 



Tf we assume, as we did above, that there was a direct loss 

 of 2 cents per pound on the increase in weight of the steer 

 during the fattening process, or $5.00 per head for the entire 

 operation, and we have an enhanced value of $15.00 with which 

 to offset this, it is perfectly obvious that there would remain a 

 profit of $10.00. This, of course, is disregarding the value of 



