OBSERVATIONS 27 



BENEFITS FROM PASTURE 



The difference in cost of production between the steers on continu- 

 ous stall-feeding and those turned to pasture the second year gives 

 some very interesting and valuable data on the benefits derived from 

 pasture. The pasture steers of Group V were in pasture 140 days 

 and gained 125 pounds per head, gaining 0.8 of a pound per day. Dur- 

 ing all the time they were on stall feed the cost was $61.70. They 

 sold for $7.75 per hundred weight, while the lot on continuous stall- 

 feeding cost $81.07 per head and sold for $8.25. The pasture steers 

 brought $23.16 net, per head, while the stall-fed steers brought $9.38 

 net, per head, leaving $13.78 per head to the credit of the pasture, or 

 in other words, the pasture saved 68.9 cents per week on feed-cost of 

 production. 



The pasture steers of Group VII were in pasture 153 days and 

 gained 44.4 pounds or 0.29 of a pound per day. The stall-fed steers 

 brought $19.36, net, while the pasture steers brought $26.26, net, leav- 

 ing $6.90 per head to the credit of the pasture, notwithstanding the 

 fact that they made a gain of only 0.29 of a pound per day. Even 

 under the small gain they saved 31.4 cents per week on feed-cost 

 of production. The average earnings of the two groups while on pas- 

 ture was 50.2 cents per week per head. The average duration of the 

 pasture season was 21 weeks, so the feed-saving from the pasture 

 during the season was $10.54 per head. 



OBSERVATIONS 



The experience and knowledge gained during the seven years this 

 investigation has been in progress have awakened in the writer a deep 

 interest in the development of the beef industry. His relations with 

 the large number of animals used in the work have been very close 

 and have been a constant source of pleasure and satisfaction. Their 

 response to kindly treatment and an occasional caress was almost hu- 

 man. The youngsters soon learned the voice of the master and as 

 soon as it was heard in the barn, several would go to the railing of the 

 runway awaiting the time for a few kindly strokes of the hand. To 

 the stall-fed steers, the runway and the stanchions in which they at 

 stated times took their nourishment were their world. They knew 

 nothing of sunshine, green pastures, shade trees, hills, dales, or rippling 

 brooks. The small, covered runway, the water tank, the salt box, the 

 stanchions admitting them to their evening and mtirning meals were 

 their all. They knew time to the dot. As the time for feeding ap- 

 proached they would one after another arise, stretch themselves, do 



