10 



BULLETIN 504, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A very high degree of correlation between profit and cost at wean- 

 ing time is shown by the coefficient —.73, and, as would be expected, 

 it is negative. The size of this coefficient as compared to the others 

 indicates that the cost of producing the calves and carrying them 

 until weaning time is by far the most important factor in determin- 

 ing the profit derived by any particular farmer from the production 

 of baby beef. In all of the records considered the calves were with 

 the cows until they went on feed, and there was no expense directly 

 chargeable to them. Bearing this in mind, the further Statement is 

 justified that the cost of maintaining the breeding herd and the size 

 of the calf crop have considerably more to do with the profitableness 

 of the enterprise than the actual preparation of the calves for market. 



Coefficients of correlation between weight and factors other than profit. 



Weight 

 and 

 Value 

 per hun- 

 dredweight. 



Weight 



and 

 Value 

 oi feed. 



Weight 



and 

 Cost at 

 weaning 



time. 



Weight 



and 

 Date of 



sale. 



+ .56 



+ .51 



+.07 



+.60 



The coefficient -{-.07, for weight and cost at weaning time, is the 

 most striking one given here. Its very small size shows that there 

 is no connection between the cost of the calves up to the time they 

 went on feed and the weights at which they were sold. The cost of 

 a calf at weaning time is determined very largely by the manner in 

 which the breeding herd is handled, and consequently this coefficient 

 shows further that on the farms studied the calves from the herds 

 which were maintained at a low cost per head weighed just as much 

 when sold as did those from herds having a high maintenance cost. 

 The coefficients for weight and value of feed and w^eight and date of 

 sale are what should normally be expected. The calves that received 

 more feed than the average weighed more than the average, and the 

 ones that were sold in the latter part of the season also weighed more 

 than the average. The high correlation, exhibited by the coefficient 

 -f-.5G, between weight and price per pound is a surprising one, but it 

 will be shown later that it is almost entirely due to the mutual corre- 

 lation of these two factors with some of the others. 



The gros;s coefficient for value per hundredweight and value of 

 feed,^ +-65, shows another apparently high correlation which may 

 or may not disappear when some of the other factors are taken into 

 account. There is no correlation between value per hundredweight 

 and cost at weaning time. The correlation between value per pound 

 and date of sale is shown by the coefficient +.61, which confirms 



1 For this and all coefficients mentioned hereafter, see Table III. 



