Live Stock Breeders' Association. 



117 



them regarding certain phases of their practice in beef produc- 

 tion. Three of the questions submitted were intimately connect- 

 ed with the question of baby beef production, or dealt with the 

 length of time the cattle were fed, weight at the time they were 

 marketed, and the age at which they were put on full feed. Some- 

 thing like 1,000 answers were received from the most experi- 

 enced and successful cattle feeders of the corn belt — men whose 

 average experience in feeding cattle was something like twenty 

 years per man, and who had fed and marketed an average of 

 about 2,000 cattle each, or an aggregate of something like two 

 million cattle. A very brief summary of their replies to the ques- 

 tions bearing upon the subject under discussion will be exceed- 

 ingly interesting at this point. 



One of the questions asked was : 



"What is the average length of your feeding period, i. e., the 

 number of days your cattle are on full feed?" 



The individual reports varied all the way from 60 or 90 days 

 for a short feed on old cattle, to a full year for baby beef. The 

 average of all the answers received to this question is as fol- 

 lows: 



The close agreement in the average length of the feeding 

 period between the various states, barring Nebraska, from which 

 we had but one report, and, in fact, the close agreement between 

 the individual reports on this point, is very significant. It is 

 particularly interesting, when the answers to this question are 

 considered in connection with the answers to the question con- 

 cerning the weight of cattle that have returned the greatest profit, 

 and to the question in relation to the age at which they put their 

 cattle on feed. 



Clearly, the length of feed is most intimately related to the 

 age of the cattle fed, and is likewise closely related to the quality 

 of the cattle. It goes without saying that these men, in answer- 

 ing the question as to the average length of their feeding period, 



