BEEF CATTLE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 
37 
Lot 4 — Continued. 
Total profit on 16 steers $385.47 
Average profit per steer 24.09 
Prices of feeds charged in 1915-16 : 
Ear corn per bushel 1. 00 
Cottonseed cake per ton__ 35. 00 
Corn silage do 3.00 
Hay, stover, and straw do 10. 00 
SLAUGHTER DATA. 
At the close of the first year's work the cake- fed steers in Lots 1 
and 2 were sold to local butchers in Asheville. They were killed at 
different times, so the slaughter data were not obtainable. The same 
applies to these lots in the second year's work, 1914—15. They were 
sold to a prominent North Carolina resort owner, who continued to 
feed them during the winter to supply the hotels, a few being killed 
at a time. 
The cake-fed steers in Lots 1 and 2 in 1916 were shipped direct 
to market and the shipping and slaughter data are given in Table 16. 
Table 16. — Shipping and slaughter data, 1915-16. 
Item. 
Number of steers 
Final weight on farm Sept. 5 pounds 
Weight at railroad station Sept. 5 do. . 
Shrinkage in driving to railroad do. . 
Do percent 
Selling weight pounds 
Total net shrinkage in transit do. . 
Do per cent 
Dressing percentage on farm weight do. . 
Dressing percentage on market weight do. . 
Lot 2-b. 
12 
,158 
099 
59 
5.1 
,071 
87 
7.51 
52.59 
56.97 
These cattle were driven 15 miles to the railroad station, where 
they were watered and then loaded on cars. They were shipped 
September 5. They arrived in Baltimore September 8 and were sold 
on the market September 11. All the cattle summered on grass were 
sold as feeders, so that only a very small number of slaughter data 
were obtained from the summer work. 
Table 16 shows that the steers in Lot 1-b, wintered on dry feed, 
lost 57 pounds in transit, and the steers in Lot 2-b, wintered on corn 
silage, lost 87 pounds in transit. This difference is accounted for 
by the fact that the winter dry-fed cattle took a greater fill of water 
than those in Lot 2. The steers in Lot 1 had been accustomed to 
drinking out of water troughs at the farm, and when they reached 
Baltimore they took more water than Lot 2, which had drunk out of 
the branch both winter and summer. Although the silage-fed cat- 
tle lost more in transit, it will be noticed that their dressing per- 
centage was higher on both market and home weights than that of 
the steers in Lot 1. 
