FEED-COST OF PRODUCTION 17 



and 398.7 oats. This is followed by data showing the amount of con- 

 centrates consumed after the close of the first year to bring certain 

 steers to 1,300, 1,400, and 1,500 pounds. Constant stall-feeding during 

 the second year is not practicable under conditions that exist on the 

 average farm. As the general practice is to turn yearlings to pasture 

 in the spring, some of the nutrition steers were turned to pasture and 

 finished for market after returning from pasture with a view of com- 

 bining the data thus obtained with the data secured from the first- 

 year records, to show feed requirements and cost of production under 

 farm conditions. The results of this phase of the experiment will be 

 given under the heading "Yearlings Turned to Pasture." 



II. FEED-COST OF PRODUCTION 



In the morning, when the farmer enters the stable and finds a new- 

 born male calf, his first thought is what disposition to make of him. 

 The average calf has no special breeding; it's just a calf weighing, say, 

 80 pounds, composed of 54 pounds of water and 22 of inedible dry 

 matter, plus waste, equal to the water- free solids of 130 pounds of milk 

 testing 3.5 per cent fat. His first impulse is to rear him, for he is fond 

 of livestock and knows that as a general proposition it is beneficial to 

 the farm, so the youngster is allowed to live for the present only. 

 During the few days while he is nursing with the dam, the farmer de- 

 cides whether he is to be sold for veal or reared for beef; sold for a 

 stocker or feeder or finished for the market. So a knowledge of the 

 cost of the feed required for the various stages of growth will be very 

 helpful to the farmer in making the best disposition of the calf. 



Since the major portion of the beef supply must now come from 

 our arable farms, it is of vital importance that conditions are such that 

 there will be no question as to the advisability of rearing the calf. Of 

 course, conditions vary in different localities, on farms especially, with 

 respect to the value of feeds, so every farmer must be governed by 

 the conditions in his locality and on his farm. The feed requirements 

 have been given. If to this is applied the average farm value of feeds 

 in Minnesota during the period covered by the experiment, some much- 

 needed light will be given on the feed-cost of rearing and fattening 

 of steers. 



The farm prices of grains and hay are based on the reports given 

 in the Yearbooks of the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 the others are estimated. 



