14 BULLETIN 504, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ful if only a limited number of records or observations are available, 
for it does away with the necessity of sorting into many groups, with 
the consequent falling off in the reliability of the averages obtained. 
The analysis of the data on fattening baby beef animals showed : 
(1) That for the herds considered, the cost of producing the calves 
and carrying them until weaning time was by far the most important 
factor in determining the profit ; 
(2) That there was no connection between the cost at weaning time 
and any of the other factors, for the calves which were produced 
cheaply were seemingly just as good feeders and brought just as good 
a price per pound as the more expensive ones ; 
(3) That the weight at which the calves were sold and the date of 
sale had very little effect on the profit, except for the fact that in the 
two years of the records the price was higher in the latter part of the 
summer, at the time when the heavier calves were put on the market ; 
(4) That the calves which consumed the heaviest ration sold at 
higher prices than the others, but did not return a correspondingly 
greater profit, as the advanced price scarcely offset the extra value 
of feed consumed. 
