Ration for Fattening Steers 347 



factory, and where the quantity of digestible nutrients 

 supplied daily was greatly below 18 Ibs. per 1,000 Ibs. 

 live weight. 



Many other feeding trials might be cited in illus- 

 tration of the unpractical character of the German 

 standard, when accepted without modification. 



The writer is led to conclude, from observation and 

 a study of the results of experiments, that under proper 

 conditions 8 to 10 Ibs. of dry coarse food and 15 to 

 18 Ibs. of grain is all that can generally be fed with 

 greatest profit to a steer actually weighing 1,000 Ibs., 

 and may be even more than is utilized by the animal 

 to the best advantage. Such a ration would supply 

 about 16 Ibs. of digestible organic matter. If consid- 

 erably smaller steers are fed the ratio of food to weight 

 may be increased, but if the animals are several hun- 

 dred pounds heavier the ratio must be materially dimin- 

 ished. It is safe to accept as a general principle the 

 rule that the larger the animal the less the proportion 

 of food to weight. The fixing of the quantity of a 

 fattening ration directly in proportion to the size of 

 the animal is a simple and quite convenient rule, but 

 is utterly impracticable, and is so recognized at present 

 in the standards for growing animals and should be 

 in all estimates and proportions. 



THE SELECTION OF A FATTENING RATION 



Two conditions already mentioned that are of the 

 highest importance should not be forgotten; viz., that 

 the ration should be palatable and be composed of a 



