78 BULLETIN XO. 58. 



the winter, and nearly all those steers did better than that, the dif- 

 ference in the cost ({noted would mean a difference in the returns 

 of from 92 cents to $5.60 on one steer, or a difference of $92.00 to 

 $560.00 more profit on 100 steers, according- to the ration fed. These 

 facts are certainly worth considering. 



Yet another point to consider is the cost of these gains com- 

 pared to the cost in the east. A recent Iowa bulletin (No. 79) 

 gives the cost of feeding steers per pound of increase where a large 

 number of steers were considered as follows: Fifty steers were 

 fed in a lot and the cost of each pound of gain ranged from 7.88 

 cents to 9.45 cents in 1903 and from 9.65 cents to 11.08 cents in 

 1902. 



Except for 1905 the results obtained by the Montana Experi- 

 ment Station were very much below those above quoted from Iowa. 

 These steers wer fed during the various winters from 101 to 139 

 days and the average daily gain was over two pounds per day, as 

 will be noted in another place in this bulletin. It will also be 

 noted that these gains are made on a much lighter grain ration 

 than is usual in the corn districts. These results afford much en- 

 couragement to the Montana feeder who finishes his cattle before 

 sending them to the eastern market. The six years covered by 

 these tests have been an area of low prices for cattle, so that the 

 returns have not been large compared with the returns from feed- 

 ing sheep. However, they have, in the main, been on the right 

 side, which should be encouraging, because more propitious times 

 are surely coming. 



