486 



Early Maturity of Stock. 



to three years old, it is shown that it required on an average 

 10-24 lbs. of food (dry matter) to procure a pound of increase 

 in live weight. 



These results are said to have been repeatedly verified by 

 many other experiments, not only with cattle, but also with 

 sheep and swine. In comparing the gain made by pure-bred 

 Shropshire lambs and pure-bred Shropshire yearlings at the 

 Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, it was found that the 

 iambs gained weight at the rate of i lb. for each 7' 18 lb, ot 

 food consumed, while it required 1 1 lb. of food to make a 

 pound increase in the yearlings. 



The law of diminishing returns for food consumed as 

 animals advance in age towards maturity is, Mr. Curtiss 

 maintains, conclusively established, and should be kept in 

 mind by the meat producer, since economy of production is 

 one of the important factors in the determination of profit, 

 and the advantages are all with the young and growing 

 animal as compared with one that has practically attained 

 its growth. 



" The policy of the feeder," he says, " should be to make 

 use of the advantages of early maturity so far as practicable 

 and consistent with existing conditions. It is not in all cases 

 practicable to do so, however, except in a moderate decree. 

 Forcing to an early finish necessarily means more expensive 

 feeding than where longer time is taken and more use is 

 made of cheaper coarse feeds. Where lands are cheap and 

 grazing and coarse fodders abundant, it may even yet be 

 desirable to take more time for finishing animals for the 

 block and thereby secure greater weight with the minimum 

 amount of grain. In the great feeding section within what 

 is known as the " corn belt," however, the conditions 

 are such as to favour the liberal policy of feeding from 

 first to last, and under these conditions early maturity 

 may be attained by a generous use of the ordinary feeding 

 stuffs throughout the entire growing and fattening period, 

 quite as well or even better than by too extensive us^ of the 

 more concentrated and expensive grain feeds. That is to say, 

 early maturity may be largely accomplished by the liberal 

 use of the cheaper foods of the farm, combined with a suitable 



