THE EFFICIENCY OF RATIONS 317 



winter. However, in case of the young growing animal, 

 growth may be so checked that the animal will never attain 

 the l)i()a(l, deep form of the typical meat animal, but will 

 be tall, narrow, and upstanding. It is also common knowl- 

 edge among feeders that range cattle, because of not being 

 previously accustomed to grain, are not as efficient meat 

 producers in the feed lot as native cattle which have been 

 accustomed to grain. 



Dietrich ^ presents results of experiments with pigs which 

 indicate that the maintenance requirement may be lowered 

 by fasting the animal or b}^ feeding only a small ration. 

 He claims that the animal makes more efficient gains after 

 such treatment. 



In an experiment at the Illinois Experiment Station ^ by 

 Mumford, Grindley, Hall, Emmett, Bull, and Alhson with 

 steers, it was found that steers which had been on a main- 

 tenance ration for some time made more efficient gains 

 when put on full feed than steers which had been on a full- 

 feed ration. 



Length of the Fattening Period. — Other conditions 

 being equal, the longer the fattening period, the larger is 

 the amount of feed required to produce a pound of gain. 

 As only the excess of feed above the maintenance require- 

 ment can be used for production, it is apparent that the 

 longer the fattening period, the greater the amount of feed 

 used by the animal for maintenance and, consequently, the 

 less the amount of feed available to produce gains. For 

 example, if a steer requiring 12 pounds of feed daily for 

 maintenance can be fattened satisfactorily in 90 days, it 

 will take less feed than if 168 days are taken to fatten him, 



» 111. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 163. « Unpublished data. 



