12 BULLETIN 1170, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



are not weighed until it has been determined that they have had 

 sufficient water. They are weighed during the same time* of day at 

 each weighing. If the weights at the end of any period -appear 

 abnormal in any respect, they are checked the following day. 



Figure 5 shows the corrals which are used to hold the cattle at 

 weighing time. Figure 6 gives a near view of the rack around the 

 scales. The gates to this rack are operated by means of ropes and 

 pulleys, which greatly add to convenience in weighing the cattle. 



GAINS OF THE CATTLE. 



The gains of the cattle will be briefly discussed in order to show 

 more clearly the relation between the quantity of native forage avail- 

 able for grazing and its influence upon the seasonable gains of the 

 cattle. When the experiment started it was not definitelv known how 



Fig. 5. — Corrals used to hold the cattle at weighing time. The scales are shown at 



the right. 



much gain per head the native forage of this area was capable of 

 producing. The average gains of the cattle for the period the experi- 

 ment has been in progress are shown in Table 2. It will be noted 

 that the highest gains per head are secured in the 100-acre and the 

 70-acre pastures. The gains of the cattle in these two pastures are 

 now looked upon as the normal maximum gains per head that may be 

 expected from the native forage. Both of these pastures had abun- 

 dant feed left standing at the close of each season. Therefore, the 

 quantity of available feed could not have been a limiting facto; m 

 the production of gains. This is also further shown by the fact that 

 the gains in these two pastures have been practically equal. The 

 small difference in favor of the 70-acre pasture is considered of minor 

 significance. The gains in the 100-acre pasture may be influenced 

 by its size and also by the fact that through it is the entrance to the 



