Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1911-10-06


the returns which they yield for the
feed consumed. A current statement
is that good feeder has greater
digestive power than poor one, or
that the power of assimilation of the
one animal is superior to that of the
other, and it has been assumed that
the advantage of the better type of
animal lay in its ability to produce
more flesh or fat from unit of feed
than could the poorer one. 1t has
also been commonly taught and
seems to be generally accepted by
animal husbandmen as an established
fact that young growing animals not
only make actually larger gains than
more mature ones, but likewise m ore
economical gains.
The influence of type and age upon
the utilization of feed by cattle has
therefore been investigated by Off
Gals of the department of agricul-
ture and the result published in bu-
reau of animal industry bulletin No.
1928.
Two steer calves were selected as
the subjects of this investigation, one
a pure bred typical beef animal OF
one of the we'll known beef breeds.
the other a scrub" of mixed breed
ing. Exhaustive feeding trials were
carried out with these animals, in
Guiding "a experiments with the res
piration calorimeter. Finally the
steers were subjected to a slaughter
test, whereby the quality of the meat
and the relative size of the various
cuts were actually determined
The feeding stuffs used were of
the same kind for both animals in all
the periods, and the different grains
used were mixed throughout in the
same proportions for each steer. At
intervals during the time the digesti-
bility of the total ration and the nj
trogen balance were determined for
each animal.
During each of the three winters
covered by the investigation four ex-
perrin ents were made on each animal
by means of the respiration calori-
meter in order to determine the per-
centage availability of the energy of
the feed consumed. During the first
winter-that of 1904-05-the feed
ing stuffs used differed from those
employed during the ordinary feed
ing. In the succeeding two winters
the grain feeds used were the same,
only the amount differing.
While the results fail to show any
material difference between the phys
biological processes of food utilization
in the two animals, they do show
clearly an economic superiority of
the purebred over the scrub steer, due
first, to the relatively smaller mainte-
| nance requirement, and, second, to
his ability to consume a larger sur
plus of feed above the requirement.
Both of the facts tend to make the
actual production of human food In
the form of meat and fat per unit of
| total feed consumed by the animal
notably greater by the pure bred ami
NAL.
| In the case of the pure bred ami
NAL especially and to a less degree
in that of the scrub, rations contain
ing less available energy and notably
| less digestible protein that the
amounts called for by the current
feeding standards of growing CATTLE
produced entirely satisfactory gains
| in live weight.
A distinct influence of age upon
the maintenance requirement was OBJ
served between the ages of IA and 80
months, the requirments decreasing
relatively as the animals matured.
The gain in weight of the scrub as
compared with that of the pure bred
steer consisted more largely of pro-
tein with its accompany water and to
a smaller extent of fat. and therefore
represented a materially smaller stor-
age of feed energy. This was also
indicated by the results of the block
| test.
The animals were killed on Janu-
airy 4, 1908. The scrub was rated as
common and the pure bred was
graded as prime" The total dressed
weight and the weights of the sew
eral wholesale cuts show the consid-
erably higher percentage of dressed
weight in the case of the pure bred.
which is characteristic of the beef
animal, and likewise the predomi-
nance of the loin cut over the less
valuable cuts of the fore-quarter in
the beef animal as compared with the
scrub, and the marketable meat of
the retail cuts show that the proper
ton of more valuable cuts was nota-