370 Feeds and Feeding. 



baby beef production the young things must fatten as they grow; 

 this can only be accomplished by the most liberal and judicious feed- 

 ing, since it is extremely difficult to get calves and yearlings suffi- 

 ciently fat for the market requirements. Heifer calves mature more 

 quickly and may be marketed earlier than steers. It is seldom pos- 

 sible or profitable to get spring calves ready for the baby beef mar- 

 ket before July of the following year; more frequently they are not 

 marketed until October, November, or December when approximately 

 18 months old. (508) 



578. Practical rations for fattening cattle, — The reader wiio 

 wishes to know the quantity and proportion of the various concen- 

 trates and roughages in well balanced rations for fattening cattle 

 will find his w^ants adequately met in the two preceding chapters, 

 wherein are summarized the principal feeding trials at the different 

 experiment stations, covering almost every form of concentrates and 

 roughages in the list of feeding stuffs. Out of the many presented 

 he should be able to find several that approximate his individual con- 

 ditions. 



579, Spread or margin. — The gains made by cattle w^hile fatten- 

 ing cost from $6.00 to $10.00 per cwt. for the feed consumed. As 

 such gains cost more per cwt. than the cattle will sell for per cwt., 

 it is necessary that the selling price of cattle per cwt. after they have 

 been fattened be higher than the purchase price or market value of 

 the same cattle before the fattening process began. This difference 

 is called the "spread" or "margin." The principle of the spread 

 may be illustrated thus : If a 1000-lb. steer is bought by the feeder 

 at $4.00 per cwt., its cost is $40.00. If this steer during fattening 

 gains 400 lbs. at a cost of $30.00, each cwt. of gain has cost $7.50. 

 The steer, now weighing 1,400 lbs., has cost $70.00 and must bring 

 $5.00 per cwt. to even the transaction. The requisite cost of feed 

 spread in this case is $1.00 per cwt., which is the sum necessary to 

 break even. 



As Waters of the ]\Iissouri Station^ sets forth, the margin or spread 

 is affected, first of all, by the length of the feeding period. Cattle 

 that are fed for long periods and made thoroly fat necessitate a 

 larger spread than those fed for but a brief period with a limited 

 amount of costly feed. Calves and yearlings fatten with less feed 

 than older cattle and so make cheaper gains, but their first cost is 

 usually more per cwt. than that of more mature cattle. Plain cattle 

 require a larger spread than those of high quality. Waters' ex- 



^ Rul. 76. 



