t>2 N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



The final feeding period should he characterized by regularity both 

 on the part -of the feeder and the animals. The appetite of the steers 

 should be kept keen by regular and judicious feeding and the gains 

 therefore made larger and more uniform. Any sudden departure from 



FIG. 7. The class of meat which comes from animals like that shown in Fig. 6. The cuts of 

 meat are small, they lack marbling and are consequently tough and unpalatable. 



this record should be taken as an indication of trouble either in the 

 feeding or management. The sooner this condition is checked the better, 

 as the unsatisfactory results often obtained are caused by lack of atten- 

 tion to these details. 



Gains Per Day. 



As a general thing the class of cattle used in this State for feeding 

 purposes do not make profitable gains. Larger daily gains should be se- 

 cured, which will reduce the cost of production. A large number of the 

 cattle will not average over one and one-fourth pounds gain per day. 

 A good grade of cattle should make at least two pounds gain daily, 

 and even two and one-half pounds would not be unreasonable to expect 

 of them. The better classes of cattle sold on the larger markets will 

 make as high as three or three and one-half pounds gain daily when on 

 full feed. In selecting cattle for feeding purposes, growthy steers with 

 ample capacity for using feed should be secured. The angular type of 

 animal so often seen in the feed lot is an inferior gainer, and a slow 

 seller. The broad backed, low-set, deep bodied steer will, as a general 

 thing, make much larger gains on an equal amount of feed, than the 

 small angular type of animal. 



Season of Marketing. 



The season of marketing beef cattle in this State has a narrow range 

 for the reason that practically all of the cattle fed come from the 

 mountains of this State where the pastures generally begin to deteriorate 

 about the first of October, so that the grazers contract to deliver the 

 feeders from October 1st to 15th. For this reason most of the good cat- 

 tle are put on feed by October 15th to November 1st. 



It will be seen therefore that unless cattle are fed on roughage feeds 

 temporarily in the fall a large portion of them will be placed on the 

 market about the same time the following spring. A great many of the 





