10 BULLETIN" 111, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing rapid, gains, the results indicate that cottonseed cake alone as a 

 supplement to pasture is greatly superior to the half-and-half mix- 

 ture of cottonseed cake and corn-and-cob meal fed to the steers in 

 lot 2. 



COST OF GAINS. 



The cost of gains was lower than in the previous year, attributable 

 to the more rapid gains made in 1913 and the slightly cheaper feeds. 



The pasture, charged at 50 cents a head for each 28-day period, 

 cost $2.62 per steer throughout the 147-day period. This, of course, 

 was the entire feed charge against the steers of lot 1. It cost $9.71 

 a head to pasture and feed the steers of lot 2, and $10.12 a head for 

 those of lot 3. The rapid gains of the steers in lot 3, however, made 

 the cost of gains lower than those of lot 2, although the latter were 

 getting cheaper feed. 



The steers were sold by farm weights less 3 per cent shrinkage, 

 and were shipped to Meridian, Miss., for slaughter. All were not 

 shipped at the close of the experiment, so that the slaughter records 

 were not obtained. 



FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 



The value of the steers at the beginning of the experiment was 

 $5.25 a hundredweight. Those of lot 1, which had pasture only, sold 

 for $5 a hundredweight in the fall, but even in the face of such a 

 handicap made a profit of $6.60 a head. This remarkable showing is 

 due entirely to the good gains which the steers made on cheap pas- 

 tures. The steers in the other two lots were fed the supplemental 

 ration to advantage, since they sold for $6 a hundredweight, which 

 was $1 more than the lot 1 price. The relative profits indicate that 

 it pays to feed cottonseed cake to steers on pasture, but the substitu- 

 tion of corn-and-cob meal, which costs but a few dollars a ton less 

 than cottonseed cake, for one-half the cake, is not so profitable as 

 feeding cake alone. 



The value of manure from the steers of lots 2 and 3 also must be 

 considered. 



The important results agree with those obtained the previous year 

 and again high costs of gain, due to the additional feed of cake and 

 corn, were more than paid for by the higher selling price of the bet- 

 ter-finished steers in lots 2 and 3. 



Table 5. — Financial statement. 

 Lot 1, fed pasture alone : 



To 26 steers, 15,854: pounds, at $5.25 a hundredweight $832. 33 



To pasture charges at 50 cents a head for 28 days 68. 25 



Total expenditure 900. 58 



By sale of 26 steers, 21,447 pounds, at $5 a hundredweight 1, 072. 35 



Total profit 171. 77 



Average profit per steer 6. 60 



