FATTENING STEEES ON PASTURE IN THE SOUTH. 



DAILY RATIONS. 



When the steers were started on pasture, May 28, each steer of 

 lot 2 received 2.5 pounds of cake and corn mixture daily, and practi- 

 cally the same quantity of cake alone was fed to each steer of lot 3. 

 These moderate allowances were gradually increased until July 13, 

 after which a full feed of 4 pounds of the concentrates was given 

 daily per head until the end of the experiment. 



When it is recalled that some of the corn fed to lot 2 was damaged, 

 and that previous experiments had shown that 100 pounds of cotton- 

 seed cake usually produce as much gain on steers as 200 pounds of 

 corn, it was to be expected that the steers of lot 3 would make the 



best gains. 



WEIGHTS AND GAINS. 



The steers were shipped about 50 miles to market, and the shrink- 

 age was estimated at 3 per cent, thus making the actual daily gain 

 of the steers in all lots somewhat larger than those shown in the 

 table. 



Comparison of the relative daily gains shows that lots 2 and 3 

 made more rapid gains than lot 1, as would be expected. The steers 

 fed a ration of corn chop and cottonseed cake gained faster than 

 those fed cottonseed cake along with the pasture. 



The cost of producing 100 pounds increase in live weight in the 

 different lots is much in favor of lot 1. With pasture charged at 50 

 cents a head for each 28 days, 100 pounds gain in lot 1 cost only 

 $1.71. The average cost of 100 pounds gain in lots 2 and 3 was $5.14 

 and $5.32, respectively. Thus cheap pasture made the cost of gains 

 lowest for the steers of lot 1, while the more rapid gains of lot 2 were 

 produced 18 cents more cheaply per 100 pounds than those of lot 3, 

 although lot 3 received slightly cheaper feed than lot 2. 



SLAUGHTER DATA. 



The steers were sold to butchers at Meridian, Miss., about 50 miles 

 from the farm. The dressing percentages show that the steers of lots 



2 and 3, which were fed cake and corn, dressed out approximately 



3 per cent higher than those getting pasture only, which indicates the 

 higher finish on the cake-and-corn-fed steers. The higher selling 

 price received for these cattle justified the extra cost of the feeds, as 

 will be seen in the financial statement. 



Table 2. — Slaughter data. 



Lot No. 



Number 

 of steers. 



Market 



weight 



per head. 



Average 

 weight of 

 carcass. 



Per cent 



dressed. 



1 



29 

 25 

 36 



Pounds. 

 763 



744 

 740 



Pounds. 

 371 

 386 

 382 



48 65 



2 



61.38 

 61.62 



3 





