690 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Oft. Doc. 



With regard to the breeding of this steer, I will say that he was 

 practically a pure bred Angus, but was not eligible to registration, 

 because I did not have registry papers of his dam. His sire is a 

 bull of over a ton in weight and is a son of "Valiant Knight 2d," 

 a champion of three international shows. "Squire Good" was 

 calved July 23, 190G. When he was about four or five weeks old I 

 decided that he was as near a perfect calf as any I had ever seen, 

 and if he was properly fed and cared for he ought to be a winner 

 some day. He was let run in the field with his dam until Novem- 

 ber 1. He was then brought into the barn every night, and given 

 a few handfuls of corn, oats and bran, and a little clover hay. He 

 was a little shy at first, but soon became very gentle. On November 

 29th he weighed 350 pounds. After that he was kept in the barn 

 at night and ran in the open barn shed and small yard in the day 

 time. He did not run with his dam, but she was let in with him 

 morning and evening. He did not have a nurse cow. 



His feed was gradually increased from this on till spring, from 

 two pounds a day to about seven pounds. On April 19th he weighed 

 700 pounds, having made an average gain of 2^ pounds a day since 

 November 29th. He was always weighed in the morning without 

 hay or water. His feed during this period was principally equal 

 parts of ground corn, oats and bran, with a small quantity of oil 

 meal and a few pounds of roots. The last month he was fed before 

 being let out to grass, he made a gain of three pounds a day. When 

 the grass was well started, he was let out in the field for half a day 

 or so at a time. About the middle of May he was weaned and turned 

 into a field of good blue grass, and was then fed a light feed twice 

 a day of corn, oats and bran. As there was a great deal of rain last 

 summer, the grass did not seem to be so good for fattening as usual, 

 and he did not gain quite as fast as I expected he would. He was 

 not in the stable again until August 1st. He was then taken from 

 the pasture and put in a shed 20x40, where there was running water 

 all the time. He was not tied, because I think an animal can rest 

 much better when loose. After he was shut up I fed him three 

 times a day, on the same kind of feed that he got in the winter, ex- 

 cept that new corn was added in September. The ground feed was 

 gradually diminished and the new corn increased until he was eat- 

 ing nearly half a bushel of ear corn a day. For several weeks be- 

 fore the show he was fed four times a day. The feed was changed 

 frequently, in order to keep him from tiring of his feed, and to keep 

 his appetite good. If he did not clean his food up I did not give him 

 quite so much the next time. I did not keep salt in front of him 

 all the time, but gave him nearly all he wanted every day. After he 

 was shut up he never missed a feed, and was fed at regular hours 

 as near as possible. I did not use the brush much except on wet 

 days, until several weeks before the show, and I think it was time 

 well spent. When he left my place in November he was sixteen 

 months old and weighed 1,150 pounds. 



As I have been studying the beef question pretty closely for some 

 time back, there are several things that seem plain to me, and these 

 are: If we expect to raise prize beef, we must raise the kind that 

 pleases the butchers and the consumers. They are usually ready 

 to pay a good price for the kind they can get the most meat out of, 



