274 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



feeding. The simple cost of food during the fattening 

 period is very inadequate data for determining the cost of 

 the carcass at the end. Besides, the proper system of feed- 

 ing that of early maturity pushing the animal forward 

 steadily to the market condition will undoubtedly show a 

 more favorable result than that of feeding through the fat- 

 tening period. All experiments to that end have shown 

 that it costs less to put a hundred pounds upon the calf 

 than upon the yearling less to put a hundred pounds 

 upon the yearling than upon the two-year-old less upon 

 the two-year-old than the three-year-old, and so on. It 

 also costs less to put a hundred pounds upon a thrifty ani- 

 mal of any age than upon an unthrifty one. We cannot, 

 therefore, make much valuable progress in determining the 

 cost of beef until the cost of feeding a given number of 

 calves shall be accurately noted from birth till they are 

 matured and ready for the butcher. These will be com- 

 plete cases all others partial and unsatisfactory. The 

 cases given at the Chicago Fat-Stock Show for 1882 are in 

 point as far as they go, and we gave, on page 250, the state- 

 ment of Mr. Stanford, of England, as reported in the Royal 

 Agricultural Journal, of the cost of a "baby bullock" 71 

 weeks old, specifying the food for each period of feeding. 

 And this is based upon the accurately-observed and noted 

 facts of feeding many such young bullocks. Mr. Stanford 

 finds the cost to be $107.35 for 71 weeks, and he sells his 

 " baby bullocks," on the average, for $108. He finds his 

 profit in the manure. We estimated the cost of raising 

 such animal in this country at $65. This was the differ- 

 ence in the cost of food. If these animals gained at the 

 same rate as the prize young animals at the Chicago Fat- 

 Stock Show, they would weigh about 1,150 Ibs. alive. This 

 would make the cost per pound about 5K cents a price 

 that the home market would always warrant. It may be 

 considered as a proof of the unpractical character of the 



