Table 2. Average Gains and Feed Conversion for Test Period (Pounds)

Ration Number 1 2 3 4

% Celery in Ration 0 10 20 30
Number of Animals 8 8 8 8
Days on test 112 112 112 112
Aver. Pretest wt. 581.9 580.0 579.4 578.8
Aver. Initial wt. 659.4 665.0 660.0 618.8
Aver. Final wt. 909.4 920.0 870.0 893.8
Aver. Daily Gain 2.23 2.28 1.88 2.46
Aver. Daily Feed Cons. 19.7 19.8 18.1 18.0
Feed/l lb. Gain 8.83 8.68 9.63 7.32
Aver. Daily Hay Cons. 4.8 5.3 6.9 6.2
Dehydrated Hay/1 Ib. Gain 2.15 2.32 3.67 2.52

 Although differences in the live grades of the animals, by ration groups
were not evident, overall market grades were improved during the feeding period
(Table 3). At the beginning of the study, a large majority of the steers were
graded as utility. The average market grade of the steers, at the end of the
trial was a high standard. The average federal carcass grade was slightly higher
than the average assigned market grade of these steers (Table 3). Although
actual individual ratings were made by thirds of a grade, these values were
combined within the recognized grade standards for this report. There was no
significant differences in carcass grades between ration groups.

Table 3. Number of Steers within each grade at three classification periods.

Market or Carcass Grade Cutter Utility Standard Good Choice

Pretest market grade 2 22 8 -
Posttest market grade 24 8 -
Federal carcass grade 16 15 1

 The warm carcass weights of all steers averaged 500 pounds. The average
dressing percentage for all 32 steers was 58.7 percent and the carcasses shrank
an average of 1.7 percent during a 48 hour chill period. Although differences
between the ration groups in dressing percentages and shrink were rather small
(Table 4) they were statistically significant.

Table 4. Average Carcass Weights and Shrink for Ration Groups.

Ration Number 1 2 3 4

% Celery in Ration 0 10 20 30
Warm Carcass Weight (Ibs) 518 503 496 481
Dressing Percent 60.2 58.3 58.9 57.5
48 hr. Carcass Shrink (5) 1.5 1.8 1.6 1.8