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MANUAL OF FARM ANIMALS 



Chief among these are the age, form, condition, quality, uni- 

 formity, and the price. 



Age at which to feed cattle. — In recent years no question has 

 been more discussed, or the object of more experimentation 

 among cattle feeders, than the most profitable age at which to 

 fatten cattle. This interest has been due in part at least to 

 the fact that writers on agricultural topics strongly advised 

 feeding young cattle, whereas the professional feeder, whose 

 livelihood depends upon his success, has shown a decided 

 preference for older cattle. To secure some idea of the age at 

 which gains can be made most cheaply, let us examine the com- 

 position of the body of an old and young steer. In Jordan's 

 "Feeding of Animals," we note the composition of the body 

 of an aged fat steer and of a fat calf to be as follows : — 



From this we observe that the body of the fat calf con- 

 tains 15.1 per cent more water and 16.4 per cent less fat than 

 that of the aged fat steer, the ash and protein being practically 

 the same. This would seem to indicate that the aged steer 

 in fattening required considerably more solid food, particu- 

 larly those foods rich in fat, whereas the calf requires less 

 fat, and less dry-matter to the pound of gain. As water is 

 cheaper than fat we would expect the calf to make the cheaper 

 gains, and such is the case. 



Not only does tlje age influence the cheapness of the gains, 

 but it affects the rate of gain as well. Here, too, the younger 

 animal has the advantage ; that is to say, all things being equal, 

 the younger animal will make more rapid gains for 1000 pounds 



