38 BULLETIN 110, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



except those of group F. Figures 2 and 3 clearly show that the longer 

 the summer-feeding period the nearer the total gains in weight 

 approach the mean of all lots; in other words, the longer the summer 

 period the nearer the steers, which made heavy winter losses, overcame 

 these losses and approached the weight of the winter-fed steers. If 

 the feeding periods had been 60 days longer and all steers had con- 

 tinued to increase in weight at the rate they had established during 

 the actual summer-feeding period the total gains at this time would 

 have been practically the same for all lots irrespective of the method 

 of wintering. 



The semistarvation of the steers on range alone during the winter 

 in connection with their rapid increase in weight when put on grass 

 the following summer, corresponds to the loss in weight of a human 

 being during a spell of sickness or starvation, and the rapid gains in 

 weight made during and immediately after convalescence on an 

 amount of food which during a normal period would cause him only 

 to maintain his weight, or at most gain very slightly. Like the 

 human being also, after the steer reaches his normal degree of fatness 

 the smaller are the daily gains in weight. 



The charts also show that the gams for summer and winter periods 

 combined are more rapid with group F than with any oth^r group of 

 steers for the same, length of time. In other words, the wintering of 

 cattle by the use of feed in addition to the natural range will be both 

 economical and profitable for cattle which are to be fattened early in 

 the summer, but the longer the grazing season the less economical 

 and profitable the winter feeding will be. If the steers in these tests 

 had been grazed until pasture gave out in October, instead of being 

 sold in July and August, it is extremely doubtful if any difference 

 could have been detected between the steers which wintered on range 

 alone and those which received feeds. Consequently, if this had 

 happened, the feeds given during the winter would have been wasted. 



Figure 4, presenting the work of 1910, shows that lot 2 made such 

 a large gain in weight during the winter, viz, 43 pounds per head, that 

 by the end of the summer these steers had made much larger total 

 gains than the steers of the other lots. The chart also indicates that 

 if the rate of gains for all the groups had continued in the same 

 direction they showed at the close of the test, all but group F would 

 have reached practically the same point within 60 days — that is, the 

 lines in the chart would have merged. The results are, therefore, in 

 entire keeping with those of the two previous years. Group F can 

 not be compared with the other groups, as these steers were in a 

 different class, being older, heavier, and fleshier at the beginning of 

 the test, and especially selected for quick finishing. All the steers 

 in the other groups were similar. 



