22 



INVESTIGATION IN ANIMAL NUTRITION 



ing-period was 8.04 pounds. The grain mixture was made up of 

 1,203.2 pounds of corn, 264 of flour middlings, 191.4 each of oats and 

 oil meal, and 63.1 of bran. The grain' consumed to 100 pounds of gain 

 was 403 pounds. The last line shows the average weight of steers at 

 the close of the first year, the amount of feed consumed, except the 

 milk, the daily average gain, grain consumed, and the pounds of grain 

 to 100 pounds gain. 



TABLE XVII 

 COST OF FEED OF GROUP V, PASTURE LOT 



Table XVII shows the cost of feed consumed from the time the 

 steers returned from pasture until they reached the weight of 1,203.1 

 pounds. The grain cost $20.58 per head, the hay, $4.28, and the silage, 

 $6.97, making the total cost for feed to make 474.9 pounds gain, $31.83, 

 which brings the rate to 6.7 cents per pound. The cost ranged from 

 4.4 cents in going from 728.2 to 798.8 pounds, to 8.6 in going from 

 999.6 to 1,091.5 pounds. The cost of the gain in the last period was 

 7.8 cents. The small amount of feed required and the low cost of gain, 

 considering that they were kept in the open, is remarkable, and shows 

 that heavy feeding either in growing or finishing steers is a wasteful 

 practice. During all this investigation in feeding for economic beef- 

 production, less than a pound of grain was fed daily during the various 

 stages of growth and fattening except during the time when the change 

 was made from milk nutrients to plant nutrients and during the short 

 periods when silage was not available. 



The total cost of the feed required to bring the steers from an 

 average weight of 101 pounds to 1,203.1 pounds, except while they 

 were in pasture, was $61.70 per head. They were sold in South St. 

 Paul for $7.75 per hundred pounds. After deducting the cost of feed, 

 transportation, and all other charges there was a net margin of $23.16 

 per head. 



The steers in Group V under continuous stall-feeding reached a 

 weight of 1,200.9 at a total cost for feed of $81.07 and were sold at the 

 same time, bringing $8.25 per hundred weight. After deducting cost 



