FATTENING STEERS ON PASTURE IN THE SOUTH. 
DAILY RATIONS. 
When the steers were started on pasture, May 28, each steer of 
lot 2 received 2.5 pounds of cake and corn mixture daily, and practi- 
cally the same quantity of cake alone was fed to each steer of lot 3." 
These moderate allowances were gradually increased until July 13, 
after which a full feed of 4 pounds of the concentrates was given 
daily per head until the end of the experiment. 
When it is recalled that some of the corn fed to lot 2 was damaged, 
and that previous experiments had shown that 100 pounds of cotton- 
seed cake usually produce as much gain on steers as 200 pounds of 
corn, it was to be expected that the steers of lot 3 would make the 
best gains. 
WEIGHTS AND GAINS. 
The steers were shipped about 50 miles to market, and the shrink- 
age was estimated at 3 per cent, thus making the actual daily gain 
of the steers in all lots somewhat larger than those shown in the 
table. 
Comparison of the relative daily gains shows that lots 2 and 3 
made more rapid gains than lot 1, as would be expected. The steers 
fed a, ration of corn chop and cottonseed cake gained faster than 
those fed cottonseed cake along with the pasture. 
The cost of producing 100 pounds increase in live weight in the 
different lots is much in favor of lot 1. With pasture charged at 50 
cents a head for each 28 days, 100 pounds gain in lot 1 cost only 
$1.71. The average cost of 100 pounds gain in lots 2 and 3 was $5.14 
and $5.32, respectively. Thus cheap pasture made the cost of gains 
lowest for the steers of lot 1, while the more rapid gains of lot 2 were 
produced 18 cents more cheaply per 100 pounds than those of lot 3, 
although lot 3 received slightly cheaper feed than lot 2. 
SLAUGHTER DATA. 
The steers were sold to butchers at Meridian, Miss., about 50 miles 
from the farm. The dressing percentages show that the steers of lots 
2 and 3, which were fed cake and corn, dressed out approximately 
3 per cent higher than those getting pasture only, which indicates the 
higher finish on the cake- and-corn- fed steers. The higher selling 
price received for these cattle justified the extra cost of the feeds, as 
will be seen in the financial statement. 
Table 2. — Slaughter data. 
Lot No. 
Number 
of steers. 
Market 
weight 
per head. 
Average 
weight of 
carcass. 
Per cent 
dressed. 
1 
29 
25 
36 
Pounds. 
763 
744 
740 
Pounds. 
371 
386 
382 
48 65 
2 
51.38 
51.62 
3. 
