Under mild winter conditions in California's Central Valley (mean temperature about 50°F) moderate amounts of artificial wind had no effect on beef cattle performance. Artificial rainfall reduced performance somewhat, depending on the amount of “rain.” Muddy pens seriously affected production, reducing the rate of gain by about 35 per cent and increasing the amount of feed required per lb of gain by about 25 per cent.

This was a cooperative study between the California Agricultural Experiment Station and the U. S. Department of Agriculture.