Live Stock Breeders* Association. YJ't 



as they do, also encourage the growth of more clover and alfalfa 

 in the crop rotation, thus preserving the fertility of the land. 

 Cattle are not only able to consume bulky material in quantity, but 

 they are also able to take it in its crude form, less costly therefore 

 than if labor is expended in its preparation. 



During the years of low-priced corn cattle feeding was profit- 

 able under almost any system of feeding, but conditions have since 

 changed, and methods must be varied to meet the new situation, 

 n beef production, like other forms of industry, competition forces 

 us to adopt more economical methods. Beef has always been a 

 luxury, and we can hardly expect it to rise in value proportionate 

 to that of corn and other cereals. When it becomes high in price, 

 the consumers use less meat and more of other foods, which, though 

 less palatable, can serve as substitutes. It is now up to the farmer 

 to adopt more economical methods of production rather than to dis- 

 continue the feeding of cattle because of higher-priced grain. If 

 cattle feeding, aside from its beneficial effect in maintaining or 

 restoring soil fertility, is a profitable industry in more eastern 

 states, as it still is when properly conducted, the farmers of Ne- 

 braska are situated to make it doubly so by virtue of the natural 

 conditions which favor the industry here, viz. : lower-priced corn 

 than any other state in the Union, the possibilities of alfalfa and 

 clover culture, notably the former, favorable markets and shipping 

 facilities, and a climate of relatively low humidity in winter which 

 permits outdoor feeding. It would be unreasonable to expect 

 cattle to return every year without fail prices for corn above what 

 might have been received at the elevator. The instability of the 

 average stock market would hardly permit it. But followed year 

 after year, with careful buying, and the exercise of skill in the 

 management of cattle, particularly with reference to the selection 

 of foods, fair profits are to be depended upon. 



Nebraska, relatively speaking, is a newly settled State, occu- 

 pied for the most part by farmers who in the past have given most 

 of their attention to the growing and selling of grain. It is not 

 at all surprising, therefore, to find that as the need of stock on the 

 farm is felt, mistakes will be made, and what might have been 

 profits turned to losses. That the experiment station might be 

 brought in closer touch with actual conditions as they exist in this 

 State, the writer, in the early spring of 1903, visited a large number 

 of feed-lots to learn what rations are in common use. In this 

 investigation it was found that by far the largest number were 



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