410 



The Fattening of Cattle. 



[Aug., 



Pig. II has been prepared to illustrate a feature of beef pro- 

 duction which came into prominence during the War — the 

 " waste " of food involved — especially in the later stages. 

 The upper curve shows the total quantity of food consumed 

 (from calf hood) by a steer at each stage in the fattening pro- 

 cess. For example, a steer of 1,000 lb. (9 cwt.) live weight was, 

 on the average, 600 days (20 months) old and up to that time 

 had consumed in all nearly 6,000 lb. of food, or 6 times its 

 weight , expressed as dry matter : whereas a steer in reaching 

 1,400 lb. live weight, consumes 3,000 lb. more food, or 

 9,000 lb. in all, equivalent to nearly 6J times its own weight. 



Combining this graph with the first, it is obvious that this 

 additional 3,000 lb. practically entirely goes to increasing the 

 fat of the flesh. 



It should be noted that in these experiments the animals 

 were stall-fed from calf hood. They must have all been excel- 

 lent " doers," for 1,400 lb. was reached on an average in 

 25 months. Nor was the feeding extravagant. At the 1,000 

 to 1,100 lb. stage the ration was only 17-18 lb. dry matter 

 per diem, or in terms of actual materials, 9J lb. grain, 7 lb. 

 hay and 13J lb. silage. At 1,200 lb. the steers were graded in 

 the market from " choice " to " prime " fat and sold at good 

 prices. 



It may be of interest to note also that the " fat ox " of the 

 Kothamsted experiments in 1849 was found on analysis (at 

 1,400 lb. live weight) to contain 30 per cent, of fat. At the 

 same live weight these American animals contained on an 

 average 28 per cent, of fat. 



In regard to this matter of beef production, there still 

 remains, however, one matter requiring investigation. We 

 have no experimental evidence on one important point. We 

 do not know what degree of fatness of the body (or of 

 the flesh) as a whole is necessary in order to secure the 

 ideal joint from the point of view of the butcher and the 

 cook. The extraordinary wastefulness of securing the last 

 400-500 lb. of fat in the body as a whole is placed beyond 

 all doubt by these experiments. But it may be that until the 

 total fat is pushed to 30 per cent, the ideal joint with its 

 appetising mixture of marbled fat is not produced. On the 

 other hand, it may well be, as maintained by the Cambridge 

 workers, that " baby " beef provides everything that the 

 butcher and cook desire. But the matter cannot be settled in 

 the absence of further experimental work, such as, it is under- 

 stood, is now proceeding at Cambridge. 



