Real-Life Math -- Solution
You're an animal nutritionist advising a new rancher on how to get
her steer ready for sale in early summer. This is what you tell her:
Question
A:
Nora would like her 500-pound steer to weigh 1,300 pounds on June
15. If there are 227 days from the date the calf was purchased until it is
butchered, how many pounds per day must the animal gain?
Pounds per
day = (1,300 pounds - 500 pounds) / 227 days
= 800 / 227
=
3.5
The animal must gain 3.5 pounds per day to gain enough to be ready
for butchering in mid-June.
Question B:
In the spring, you advise
starting the animal with the amount of grain that equals 1 percent of its
body weight. The animal weighs 1,000 pounds. You then advise increasing this
amount by 1.5 pounds every 3 days. After 9 days, how much grain will the steer
be eating?
1,000 pounds x 0.01 = 10 pounds
You will begin by feeding
the steer 10 pounds of grain per day.
You will increase this amount
by 1.5 pounds every 3 days.
Amount after 9 days = 1.5 pounds increase
x (9 days / 3 days between increases) + 10 pounds
Amount after 9 days
= 1.5 x 3 + 10
Amount after 9 days = 4.5 + 10
Amount after 9 days
= 14.5 pounds
After 9 days, the steer will be eating 14.5 pounds of
grain per day.
"Animals that are fed purely on grass aren't as juicy
as those finished with grain," says Lemenager. Not only do you have to look
at how much the animal has to gain, you have to figure out the best way to
put on that weight.