74 BULLETIN NO. 58. 



pound of increase in live weight. These figures afford a very inter- 

 esting comparison of the relative value of the various rations. 



Put into money value we find that the cost of each pound of 

 gain ranged from 8.49C for lot I up to I2.55C for lot IV a differ- 

 ence of 4c in favor of the lighter grain ration. For lot II, fed 5 

 pounds of grain per day, each pound of gain cost more than did 

 the gain on lot IV, fed the larger grain ration. As noted above 

 the steers in lot II, for some reason, did not do very well. 



Considering, next, the whole time of the test, which will in- 

 clude the 30 days preliminary feeding, when hay was mainly fed,, 

 and but little grain, we find that this preliminary period material- 

 ly helps out the cost of feeding. It will be noted by referring to 

 table I that the gains made during this first, or preliminary period, 

 were on the average much faster than the gains made during the 

 99 days test period. We find also that the amount of hay and grain 

 eaten per day per steer and for each pound of gain in live weight 

 was considerably less than during the experimental period. During 

 this preliminary period the cost of one pound of gain in live weight 

 averaged about 3.4 cents per pound, compared with 8^2 to i2 l / 2 cts. 

 per pound during the experimental period. The effect of this, as 

 stated before, is to materially reduce the cost of feeding for the 

 whole time of the experiment. The hay eaten per day by the 

 steers, on the average for the 129 days, was practically the same 

 as for the experimental period, but the grain ration ranges from 

 2.5 to 7 pounds, which is considerably lower than for the experi- 

 mental period. The food eaten for each pound of gain is consider- 

 ably less, both in clover and in grain, ranging from 2 to 7 pounds 

 less hay and from .7 to nearly 2 pounds less grain. 



Considering the average of the car-lot we found that the steers 

 ate 24.4 ppujids of hay and 4.7 pounds of grain per day. 

 The food eaten for one pound qf gain averaged 18.9 pounds of 

 clover and 3.81 pounds of grain. The cost of feeding averaged for 

 the car-lot 8.4 cents for each pound of gain in live weight. These re- 

 sults, as will be noted by referring to the first experiment reported 

 in this bulletin and to previous years' tests, are considerably more 

 expensive gains than we have previously had in our feeding tests. 

 This is true even of the smallest grain ration, viz : three pounds 

 per day. 



