THE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



409 



that is utilized by steers, the less grain 

 will be required for putting them in 

 market condition. 



Length of fattening period and cost 

 of gain — It has been repeatedly demon- 

 strated that the cost of gain increases 

 with the length of the fattening period. 

 Thus, in a set of experiments carried 

 out by Georgeson, it was found that the 

 amount of grain required for 100 pounds 

 of gain in a feeding period of 182 days 

 was 1,000 pounds, while for a feeding 

 period of 56 days, the amount was only 

 730 pounds. It is obvious that the steer 

 should be sold at the earliest moment 

 at which he is fit for market, since the 

 expense of producing further gains in- 

 creases until a point is reached where 

 the cost of gain is too high to permit 

 of further profit from feeding. In fact, 



short before the steers are in prime con- 

 dition, otherwise the greatest profit can- 

 not be obtained from the outlay which 

 has already been made in feed and labor. 



Taking a feeding period of average 

 length as a basis on which to formulate 

 a general statement of the requirements 

 of a beef steer for 100 pounds of gain, 

 it may be said that 1,000 pounds oi" 

 grain and 500 pounds of roughage in 

 the form of corn stover and hay will 

 produce 100 pounds of meat, but these 

 amounts will have to be increased in the 

 estimate if the feeding period is unduly 

 prolonged. The cost of feeding per 100 

 pounds of gain in beef steers, ranges 

 from $4 to $12, depending on the quality 

 of the steers and the kind of feed. 



Feeding steers loose and tied — It is 

 of importance to determine the relative 



Fig. 271 FEED YARD AND SHEDS. COURTESY KANSAS EXPERIMENT STATION 



during the last stages of the fattening 

 period, the cost of gain is nearly always 

 greater than the price received for the 

 steer when finished. The necessity for 

 putting on this expensive meat lies in 

 the fact that otherwise a high market 

 price cannot be obtained and the econ- 

 omy of the apparently wasteful process 

 is obvious when it is remembered that 

 the value of the whole carcass is greatly 

 increased by the finishing touches put 

 on during the last stages of the fatten- 

 ing period. 



In a comparison of feeding periods of 

 117 days and 160 days for steers, in 

 Canada, it was found that the cost of 

 100 pounds of gain in the shorter period 

 was $12.75 and in the longer period 

 $10.53. This apparent exception to the 

 rule just stated indicates clearly that 

 the fattening period should not be cut 



profits obtained in feeding steers loose 

 and tied, in stanchions or otherwise. In 

 a test carried on in Canada during a 

 feeding period of 129 days, loose steers 

 gained 311 pounds and tied steers 275 

 pounds. The gain in the loose steers 

 cost $4.76 a 100 pounds and $5.39 in 

 tied steers, while the daily gain in the 

 latter was 1.6 pounds and in the former 

 1.8 pounds. 



At the Mississippi experiment station, 

 Smith found that stable fed steers made 

 greater gains than those which were 

 kept in open yards. In good weather 

 the latter gained more rapidly than 

 those which were kept in the stable and 

 made less trouble in the way of care. 



Heavy vs. light steers — While con- 

 siderable difference of opinion prevails 

 regarding *he profits to be derived from 



