260 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



liberal feeding. They were fed for exhibition, and would 

 thus be fed as their exhibitors believed to be best calculated 

 for rapid growth, and therefore are all fed under similar con- 

 ditions. They should be thoroughly studied by the feeder. 



It is interesting to trace the same animal from year to 

 year. No. 56, 1880, 832 days old, weight 1,845 pounds, had 

 gained 2.21 per day. He appears the next year as No. 45, 

 1,190 days old, weight 2,145 pounds, having gained 300 

 pounds in a year, or 0.82 pound per day, or only thirty- 

 seven per cent, of its previous gain per day. No. 107 of 

 1881, 1,237 days old, weighed 2,095 pounds, gain, 1.61 

 pounds per day appears as No. 115 of 1882, weight 2,565 

 pounds, having made the large gain of 470 pounds, or 1.28 

 per day. But as this was the champion steer of the show 

 in 1881, also in 1882, it was fed in the very best manner, 

 but still it fell nearly one-third of a pound per day behind 

 its previous gain. 



No. 116 of 1882, Lady Peerless, 1,644 days old, weight 

 1,880 pounds, appeared in 1881 as 1,268 days old, weight 

 1,520 pounds, with a daily gain of 1.19. The past 376 days 

 she has gained 360 pounds, being a daily gain of 0.93 

 pounds. Here then, is a loss of twenty-two per cent, in 

 gain. There are many such cases in the tables, showing 

 the law of gain in the same animal, and that the rate 

 decreases as the age increases. 



COST OF PRODUCTION. 



The managers of these fat-stock shows made a very 

 praiseworthy addition to the prizes in the last, under the 

 head of cost of production. This cost of production goes 

 to the very root of the matter ; and when taken in connec- 

 tion with law of growth, above discussed, it should be the 

 key to decide the true system of feeding. If the young 

 animal makes a more rapid growth, and if that growth 

 costs less, and if the beef grown thus rapidly is of good 

 quality, then it is simply throwing away food to feed the 



