LABOR AS A FACTOR 33 



Weight fat steers at feed lot before ship- 

 ment (yarded 12 hours) 25,750 pounds 



Weight fat steers at market next day 25,280 pounds 



Weight charged on freight bill 25,500 pounds 



In the latter case we find that the freight charge 

 was based on a weight about midway between the home 

 and market weights. 



It is important to remember that the expenses here 

 discussed are a much larger factor in proportion to the 

 investment in feeding lighter cattle than in heavy ones. 

 Where the gain is put on at less cost than it sells for, the 

 buying and marketing expenses are of greater importance 

 and may equal or exceed the entire margin necessary to 

 balance accounts. 



At first thought it would seem that the higher the 

 price paid for the feeders the less important would be 

 the freight and stockyard charges in the operation, but 

 such is not the case. For example, if in the above 

 transaction the feeders had cost $3 instead of $4,267 

 the proportion of the margin required to come out even 

 due to buying, shipping, and selling expenses would 

 have been 27.6 per cent instead of 33 per cent; and if 

 they had cost $5 per hundredweight, the proportion 

 would have been 39 per cent. 



LABOR AS A FACTOR IN CATTLE FEEDING 

 It has not been the custom in experiment station 

 bulletins to make any definite statement as to the im- 

 portance of the expense item of labor as compared with 

 other necessary disbursements. A consideration of the 

 subject of labor has usually been dispatched with some 

 such statement as, "No charge is made for labor in 

 caring for the steers or for bedding; neither is any value 

 assigned to the manure made by them. It is believed 

 that the agricultural value of the manure intelligently 

 preserved and distributed would be sufficient to balance 

 the cost of the bedding and labor involved." Labor, 

 like many other factors in beef production, is variable. 



