50 BEEF PRODUCTION 



tages, which at present must be stated more as opinion 

 than as a result of deductions from actual experiments 

 covering a comparison of these methods, although at 

 the Illinois Station both these systems have been tested, 

 and there is an experiment now in progress at the station 

 referred to inquiring into this very question. First, it 

 should be said that both methods are followed with vary- 

 ing success. Cattle may be put on full feed in from 

 fifteen to thirty days without apparent injury. The 

 advantage of this method is a saving of time or a short- 

 ening of the feeding period. It contributes to larger 

 gains during the first part of the feeding period, and, 

 taking the whole feeding period together, it is believed 

 to induce a larger consumption of concentrates and a 

 consequent smaller proportion of roughages. With this 

 system of feeding the gains grow smaller and more ex- 

 pensive during the latter part of the feeding period, 

 provided the same extends five months or more of full 

 feeding and provided aged rather than young cattle are 

 involved. 



AS TO SHORT-FED CATTLE 



In dealing with short-fed cattle, getting cattle on 

 full feed in fifteen to twenty days is undoubtedly 

 advisable, but if cattle are to be in the feed lot six months 

 they can be given a very satisfactory marketable finish 

 where thirty to forty-five days of that time are employed 

 in getting them on full feed. The advantages of this 

 method are: The ration is at first made up of such 

 bulk as to permit the steers eating all they wish without 

 any danger of getting the cattle off feed or deranging 

 the digestive organs. The grain ration is so gradually 

 increased that the steers become accustomed to hand- 

 ling a heavier and more highly concentrated ration. This 

 method is safer in the hands of the novice. Gains are 

 not so large during the first part of the feeding period as 

 they are where cattle are put on feed more rapidly, but 

 Ihey are still economical as viewed from the standpoint 

 of feed consumed to produce this gain. As the feed is 



