A STATISTICAL STUDY OF BODY WEIGHTS, GAINS, AND 
MEASUREMENTS OF STEERS DURING THE FATTEN¬ 
ING PERIOD 1 
By B. O. Severson, Associate Professor , and Paue Gereaugh, Instructor, The De¬ 
partment of Animal Husbandry, Pennsylvania State Collge Agricultural Experiment 
Station 
INTRODUCTION 
The necessity of judging beef cattle on a more scientific basis than is 
found in authoritative texts on the subject seems essential. Judgment 
in general is based on the merits of beef animals gathered from empirical 
results, and there exists little data on which scientific selection can be 
made. This necessity exists not only for the selection of breeding 
animals but for the selection of beef cattle purchased as “feeders.” 
In the case of dairy cattle and the speed horse records of performance 
are available, and no one disputes their value as a means of selecting 
animals of merit. The feeder of beef cattle knows that breeding is 
important and gauges his selection by color markings, size, weight, form, 
sex, and condition. None of these are definite except sex; the rest 
are determined by observation, and judgment is made accordingly. 
Mitchell and Grindley, 2 of Illinois, have shown clearly that the selection 
of live stock for experimental purposes in many feeding experiments 
throughout the country has probably been the cause for the large experi¬ 
mental errors that these investigations show. 
Is there any method of selection that can be used by experimenters 
and farmers to determine more accurately the probable gains in live 
weight and finish of beef cattle under a uniform system of feeding and 
management. At present the only real definite measurement used 
in the selection of steers for experimental purposes in feeding is live 
weight, while the judgment of the experimenter is employed in estimat¬ 
ing uniformity of condition, general form, and quality. As shown in 
Table II of this paper, there is no correlation between live weight and 
the gains in live weight of steers fed during a fattening period of 140 
days. What then can be used as a measure of determining probable 
gains and lowering the probable error caused by individuality of animals 
used? 
OBJECTS OF THE INVESTIGATION 
This paper does not attempt to answer these questions, but has as its 
object the presentation of information of a nature that may assist others 
1 Presented by permission of the Dean and Director of the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Ex¬ 
periment Station of The Pennsylvania State College. 
3 Mitchell, H. H., and Grindley, H, S. the element of uncertainty in the interpretation 
of feeding experiments. In Ill. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 165, p. 459-579, 8 fig. Bibliography, p. 578-579. 
1913. 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Washington, D. C. 
kq 
(383) 
Vol. XI, No. g 
Nov. 19, 1917 
Key No. Pa.—3 
