COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 



WEIGHTS AND GAINS OF STEERS FED THREE WINTERS AND 

 THOSE FED TWO WINTERS 



You will note the heavy gain put on by the calves during the 

 first winter's feeding almost as much as they put on the next winter 

 as yearlings. As a consequence, they weighed, the fall that they were 

 yearlings, 140 pounds per head more than the steers of the same 

 crop brought in from the range as yearlings. The next spring they 

 were only no pounds heavier, the next fall 99 pounds heavier, and 

 the spring they were marketed, 39 pounds lighter than the steers 

 brought from the range as yearlings. This gradual decrease in 

 the margin between the two sets of steers indicates that the winter 

 feeding as calves hastened the steers to maturity and consequently 

 lessened their power for gain each successive season at a rapid rate. 



Another way to look at the question is to compare the gains 

 made each year by the same lot of steers. The lot fed as calves made 

 a gain of 400 pounds per head the first winter and succeeding sum- 

 mer; the next year they made 352 pounds gain per head already 

 starting down hill you notice and the last winter they made a 

 gain of only 223 pounds per head, or 36 pounds per head less than 

 they made the winter they were calves. 



Considering the year when they were one year old, they made 

 a gain of 431 pounds as against a gain of 285 pounds when two- 

 year-olds. And the steers that were not fed until they were yearlings 

 made a gain of 456 pounds the year that they were twos. 



