FEEDING FOR MEAT 



363 



requires experience and an mtelligent application of all 

 the factors involved. 



BEEF PBODTJCTION 



459. Nature of the growth with beef production.— 

 Feeding steers or oxen for the market may be carried 

 on with young animals that are still making some growth 

 of bone and muscle, or with those so mature that addi- 

 tional weight comes ahnost wholly from a deposition of 

 fat in the tissues ah-eady formed. This is the difference 

 between feeding a two-year-old and a five-year-old steer. 

 In either case the predominating constituent of the 

 increase is fat. This fact is established by the investi- 

 gation of Lawes and Gilbert and by one experiment in 

 this coimtry. Gilbert, in his lectures summarizing the 

 Rothamsted work, gave the following figures: 



Table LXXIX. Composition op Increase When Steers Are 

 Fattening 



These figures may be regarded as reliable, and they 

 show most conclusively that in beef production the 

 constructive use of the food is largely in the direction 

 of fat-forming. 



460. Rate of increase of fattening animals. — ^The 

 extent of the actual production which occurs can be 



