— 28 
received for raising and feeding out the hay. All things 
considered, for a man on a small farm, who does not feed 
more stock than he can take care of himself, this is the fairest 
way of calculating profits. For the outside feeder, there 
needs to be taken into account the net profit, minus interest, 
the value of his own time, all incidental expenses for horses, 
wagons, etc., and enough more to compensate for the risk. 
The home feeder has this simple problem before him: I 
have raised my hay. I have on hand my own teams and all 
equipments. In what way can I put in my time through the 
winter to get the largest net return from the hay I have 
raised ? 
On this basis, the alfalfa pen, of course, gives the largest 
return, followed by the other four pens, except the ensilage, 
just about even and ensilage last. But the amount of hay 
eaten by the pens is quite variable, and, when put into the 
amount received per ton, it stands as follows: 
No. of Pen. 
Hay Eaten. 
Selling Price More 
than Cost, Less Hay. 
Net Return for Alfalfa 
Per Ton. 
1. 
5089 
$26 53 
$10 42 
2. 
3336 
19 28 
11 55 
3. 
2938 
20 98 
17 70 
4. 
2651 
10 79 
8 12 
3181 
19 93 
11 47 
3691 
21 33 
11 56 
Total. 
21186 
118 84 
11 80 
When figured to return per ton for alfalfa eaten, the 
fodder corn shows much better than any other, with ensil¬ 
age as the least. I he other four are not much different, 
but the alfalfa pen though showing the least, yet makes the 
surprising showing of about $10.50 per ton, when two and a 
half tons were fed to three steers. 
It is also shown in this view of the case, that much less 
hay was eaten by the other pens than by the alfalfa pen, so 
that to consume a given amount of hay would require more 
cattle, a larger outlay, and a greater risk. The extra re¬ 
turn for the alfalfa per ton when fed with grain, beets, or 
both, would not more than repay the extra interest. 
Looking at the matter from the point of return per ton 
for alfalfa fed, the alfalfa and fodder corn pens have done 
decidedly the best. This is the same, result obtained by 
considering true net profit. As to which of these two pens 
did the better, it would be difficult to say. They are about 
even. 
EFFECT OF AGE ON PROFIT. 
In this test there were used three groups of steers, four- 
1 
