10 
BULLETIN 504, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A very high degree of correlation between profit and cost at wean- 
ing time is shown by the coefficient —.73, and, as would be expected, 
it is negative. The size of this coefficient as compared to the others 
indicates that the cost of producing the calves and carrying them 
until weaning time is by far the most important factor in determin- 
ing the profit derived by an}' particular farmer from the production 
of baby beef. In all of the records considered the calves were with 
the cows until they went on feed, and there was no expense directly 
chargeable to them. Bearing this in mind, the further statement is 
justified that the cost of maintaining the breeding herd and the size 
of the calf crop have considerably more to do with the profitableness 
of the enterprise than the actual preparation of the calves for market. 
Coefficients of correlation between weight and factors other than profit. 
W 2P w sr 
Value *J* 
perhun- ™» 
dredweight. °* leea ' 
Weight 
and 
Cost at 
weaning 
time. 
Weight 
and 
Date of 
sale. 
+.56 +.51 1 +.07 
i 
+ .60 
The coefficient +.07, for weight and cost at weaning time, is the 
most striking one given here. Its very small size shows that there 
is no connection between the cost of the calves up to the time they 
went on feed and the weights at which they were sold. The cost of 
a calf at weaning time is determined very largely by the manner in 
which the breeding herd is handled, and consequently this coefficient 
shows further that on the farms studied the calves from the herds 
which were maintained at a low cost per head weighed just as much 
when sold as did those from herds having a high maintenance cost. 
The coefficients for weight and value of feed and weight and date of 
sale are what should normally be expected. The calves that received 
more feed than the average weighed more than the average, and the 
ones that were sold in the latter part of the season also weighed more 
than the average. The high correlation, exhibited by the coefficient 
+.56, between weight and price per pound is a surprising one, but it 
will be shown later that it is almost entirely due to the mutual corre- 
lation of these two factors with some of the others. 
The gross coefficient for value per hundredweight and value of 
feed, 1 +.65, shows another apparently high correlation which may 
or may not disappear when some of the other factors are taken into 
account. There is no correlation between value per hundredweight 
and cost at weaning time. The correlation between value per pound 
and date of sale is shown by the coefficient +.61, which confirms 
1 For this and all coefficients mentioned hereafter, see Table III. 
