38 BULLETIN 110, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
except those of group F. Figures 2 and 3 clearly show that the longer 
the summer-feeding period the nearer the total gains in weight 
approach the mean of all lots; hi other words, the longer the s umm er 
period the nearer the steers, which made heavy winter losses, overcame 
these losses and approached the weight of the winter-fed steers. If 
the feeding periods had been 60 days longer and all steers had con- 
tinued to increase in weight at the rate they had established during 
the actual summer-feeding period the total gains at this time would 
have been practically the same for all lots irrespective of the method 
of wintering. 
The semistarvation of the steers on range alone during the winter 
in connection with their rapid increase in weight when put on grass 
the following summer, corresponds to the loss in weight of a human 
being during a spell of sickness or starvation, and the rapid gains in 
weight made during and immediately after convalescence on an 
amount of food which during a normal period would cause him only 
to maintain his weight, or at most gain very slightly. Like the 
human being also, after the steer reaches his normal degree of fatness 
the smaller are the daily gains in weight. 
The charts also show that the gains for summer and winter periods 
combined are more rapid with group F than with any oth^r group of 
steers for the same, length of time. In other words, the wintering of 
cattle by the use of feed in addition to the natural range will be both 
economical and profitable for cattle which are to be fattened early in 
the summer, but the longer the grazing season the less economical 
and profitable the winter feeding will be. If the steers in these tests 
had been grazed until pasture gave out in October, instead of being 
sold in July and August, it is extremely doubtful if any difference 
could have been detected between the steers which wintered on range 
alone and those which received feeds. Consequently, if this had 
happened, the feeds given during the winter would have been wasted. 
Figure 4, presenting the work of 1910, shows that lot 2 made such 
a large gain in weight during the winter, viz, 43 pounds per head, that 
by the end of the summer these steers had made much larger total 
gains than the steers of the other lots. The chart also indicates that 
if the rate of gains for all the groups had continued in the same 
direction they showed at the close of the test, all but group F would 
have reached practically the same point within 60 days — that is, the 
lines in the chart would have merged. The results are, therefore, in 
entire keeping with those of the two previous years. Group F can 
not be compared with the other groups, as these steers were in a 
different class, being older, heavier, and fleshier at the beginning of 
the test, and especially selected for quick finishing. All the steers 
in the other groups were similar. 
