60 BULLETIN NO. 58. 



experiment started on December 21. For the first six to eight days 

 hay alone was fed. Then we started with the grain, gradually in- 

 creasing the amount until at the end of three weeks the full grain 

 ration of 5 pounds per day per steer was fed. The hay was fed 

 twice a day. The grain at first was fed once a day, but later, 

 when a larger quantity was fed, they received the grain twice a day. 

 The steers had water and salt where they could get to it at any 

 time. The steers were weighed three days in succssion at the 

 beginning of the test and every two weeks thereafter until the 

 close of the test, when they were again weighed three times in 

 succession. The average of these weights was taken as the aver- 

 age weight of the steers. The cost of the feed was as follows: 

 Clover hay, $5.00 per ton; wheat, $1.25 per hundred pounds; oats, 

 $1.00 per hundred pounds; barley, $1.00 per hundred pounds; bran, 

 85 cents per hundred pounds. These were about the average 

 prices in the Gallatin valley for that year. 



The steers were fed in yards which sloped to the west. These 

 yards were about 25 feet by 150 feet. At one end of these yards 

 was a straw covered shed, about 25 by 20 feet, into which the 

 steers went nearly every night. These sheds and yards were kept 

 bedded with straw so as to give the animals as comfortable quar- 

 ters as possible. The hay and grain were fed in racks and troughs 

 'outside in the yards. The steers, when first put into the yards, 

 were somewhat restless, but they soon quieted down. Thev were 

 not familiar with grain and had at first to be coaxed to eat it. 



THE GAINS MADE. 



Table No. I gives the weights and gains of the steers. This 

 table is divided into periods, so as to permit a study of the gains 

 during the progress of the test. Considering the whole time of 

 the test, 101 days, it will be noticed that the steers gained 2i 

 pounds each, increasing from 935.8 to 1153.8 pounds, which was an 

 increase of 2.16 pounds per dav, a very satisfactory ^ain, consid- 

 ering the length of the test. There is not very much to notice in 

 the gains made in the first, second and third periods. For the 

 fourth period all of the animals made proportionately better eains 

 than they did at any other time. Considering- the two periods, 

 from Jan. 13 to March'8, which. might be called the test period and 

 continued for 65 days, it will be noticed that the steers fed on the 

 mixed grain ration made the largest gains per day, namelv, 2.23 

 pounds. The barley ration gave the next largest gain, namely, 



