PREPARATIONS FOR SHIPPING. 19 



expected from the undertaking. As the steer advances in age 

 it can no longer lay up fat as it could when younger, and.finally 

 a period is reached when a sort of physical equilibrium is estab- 

 lished, from which time the weight remains stationary and the 

 fattening would be a money-losing operation. Before this limit 

 is reached the average cost for one pound increase in live weight 

 increases; while for one pound gain during the first two months 

 there would be needed 7 Ibs. of food, after six months there 

 would be needed 10 Ibs. for the same increase in live weight; 

 but this in beet-pulp feeding is of only secondary importance, 

 as the cost of the product used is so slight that it need not be 

 considered upon a basis of a few pounds more or less in the 

 ration per diem, and under these circumstances the stockman 

 can select his own time for selling. By most modes when this 

 residuum is not a factor, the money cost of the fodder and the 

 results obtained no longer leave the stockman master of the 

 situation. Experiments made some years since by Lawes and 

 Gilbert tend to show that for each pound increase in live weight 

 there are needed about 12.5 Ibs. dry substance in the fodder. 



Upon examining the numerous bulletins of the experiment Money advant- 

 stations, one is led to conclude that the cost of food for 100 Ibs. a 9 es of teet 

 increase in live weight varies from 66.50 to $4. With beet reslduiin:s - 

 residuum pulp fodder at $2 a ton, this cost can be considerably 

 diminished. 



A question that certainly needs important attention is greater Needs for ship- 

 facilities for shipping. After a journey of several hundred P' n 9 facilities, 

 miles there follows a shrinkage in live weight which is very un- 

 necessary if certain conditions of comfort were offered to the 

 cattle during their transportation. 



As to the best modes of preparing fattened steers before ship- Preparations for 

 ping, the authorities do not agree; but upon general principles shipping, 

 it may be admitted that the less they drink and the fuller their 

 stomachs are of solid food, the greater are the chances of suc- 

 cess; they may drink upon arriving at destination. In some 

 cases for long journeys it is desirable to feed on the road, and 

 for this special case caked molasses combinations would evi- 

 dently offer advantages. 



Salt in steer feeding should be used with certain precautions 



