ECONOMIC USE OF FORAGES IN LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION 39 
ticular class of livestock without much difficulty or expense. ‘The 
amount of forage in the ration for each class of livestock can be varied 
within wide ranges. The feeder-cattle system can be varied in several 
ways. One can shift from yearlings to calves or 2-year-old steers, 
or from choice feeders to medium feeders, with little difficulty. Even 
within a production period, up to the time the livestock are marketed, 
adjustments can be made in the feed combinations fed. Uncertainty 
as to cost relationships tend to decrease as the date of sale of the live- 
stock products approaches. Estimates of milk prices used in deciding 
to build the dairy barn may differ widely from the actual prices 
received for milk during the lifetime of the barn. But one can 
estimate more exactly the price that will be received for the milk 
produced from the hay and grain fed to a cow today. ‘Thus price 
estimates formed at the beginning of each production period are 
likely to be a great deal more accurate than estimates of prices during 
a long period of years, which are the basis for a decision to establish 
a particular livestock system. 
If expectation could be formed correctly at the beginning of each 
production period it would pay to adjust the feeding system for each 
class of livestock in accordance with the principles set down in pre- 
vious sections of this report. That is, if the price of forage were 
expected to decline relative to grain, it would pay to folléw a ration 
which included a high proportion of forage.* ‘Table 18 shows how 
returns during 32 years would have been increased by making such 
adjustments from year to year. Hogs fed on pasture provide a good 
example. No single feed combination was most profitable in all of 
the 32 years. Hogs fed no forage were most profitable in 9 years; 
those fed a moderate quantity of forage proved most profitable in 18 
years; and those fed a large proportion of forage gave highest returns 
above all costs in 5 of the 82 years. 
If expectations as to prices and costs had been formed correctly by 
weaning time and the optimum feed combination selected accordingly, 
profits from the hog enterprise would have been greater than if any 
one of the three feeding systems had been followed consistently year 
after year. In this case, the returns per $100 of all costs would have 
averaged $124, slightly higher than the $122 realized by consistently 
following the ration that contained a moderate amount of forage. 
Average returns per $100 of costs from dairy cows would have been 
increased from $119 to $121 by adjusting to the most profitable ration 
instead of following the high-grain ration year after year. By select- 
ing the most profitable of the five systems of feeding feeder cattle 
each year, returns would have averaged $132 per $100 of all costs as 
compared with only $1138 by feeding yearling steers a high-forage 
ration each year. Also, the number of years in which returns failed 
to cover all costs would have been reduced from 12 to 7. The number 
of years in which returns would have been insufficient to cover costs 
of the feed would have been reduced from six to only two. Unfortu- 
nately, the possibility of anticipating price relationships correctly at 
the beginning of the feeding period is much greater for feeder cattle 
than for hogs or dairy cows. 
* Adjustments in the ration from time to time during the production process 
as estimates of cost relationships are revised are possible also. 
