Show STEER FEEDING LESSONS FROM MISSOURI 6 g a w 4 7 4 P NIL am ev I 1 A SCENE ON A WESTERN CATTLE RANCH by P F r trowbridge missouri agricultural ri experiment station steers that are full fed from birth should not be held beyond twenty or twenty two months of age because chete Is a decided falling oil off in thi the rate of gain after tills this age the carcasses are overdone there Is an undue waste of excess tat fat and the gain in weight in proportion to feed consumed Is much reduced as well as the gain per day per steer ateer these are the results secured in a recent test at the missouri agricultural experiment station in which some steers were full fed others received much less feed the steers which received feed insufficient clent for the greatest growth were roost most affected by such ailments as in dige sUon silon and pink eye and their sickness was more likely to result in death in fact among more than a hundred steers in the experiment all the losses except one were among the low fed animals most profitable gains steers fed tor for long periods such as three years and a halt half on feed insaf fluent for the greatest growth did not seem to be able to digest their feed and to make good gains when later put on full teed feed even a steer whose growth was greatly retarded for only one year never equaled in weight a steer of the same age which had been full fed from birth although when nhen put back on full feed he made very profitable gains and developed a very choice carcass of beef these results do not disagree with the common observation that thin steers often make the most profitable gains such feeders have usually not been starved so long or so steadily they have usually had bulky reed feed which kept up the stomach capacity even though it furnish a threat great deal of nourishment and were vert very likely to have at least occasional large quantities of good nutritious nutrition teed feed while the steers in the test wera 11 kept regularly on small quantities ot of food for long periods so that they seemed to lose the capacity to eat and digest as large quantities as they must handle to make the most profitable to gains thrifty yearlings yearnings year lings put on feed that Is not sufficient even to keep up the body weight they already have continue to grow in height and framed frame work even when ma made de to lose halt half a pound a day measurements of the skeletons did not indicate any decrease in the rate of growth for several months even when these animals were using the body fat to supplement the lack of feed there was a very noticeable addition of fat in the skeleton only when approximately all the tha fat was taken from the soft parts did the animals begin to draw on the fat in the skeleton to maintain existence economical beef the most economical choice beer resulted asom the use of a feeder weighing about pounds so fed as to make a gain of pounds such a steer will probably not dot quite top the market but he should make the th greatest possible profit to the feeder and furnish an economical carcass for the butcher and housewife and meat of a quality to plea please sethe the most exact ing the carcasses show that of this pound gain 38 per cent Is water 49 per cent fat and 12 per cent protein tein when similar steers were fattened until they had bad gained another pounds or gone from 1250 pounds pound to 1750 pounds the carcasses were much overdone and the second pounds was TO 76 per cent fat IS 18 per cent waterland wat erand 5 per cent protein |