142 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



them on grass as two-year olds, would be wasteful of feed and 

 opportunity. 



The animals should be on full feed before the weaning process 

 begins, so as to prevent the heavy shrinkage that it usually en- 

 tails. Following this should come vaccination against blackleg, and 

 dehorning. 



The full feeding should continue until early the following June 

 or July when, if the cattle are bred right, they will be as fat as 

 they can be profitably made under ordinary states of the market, 

 and will weigh from 950 to 1,050 pounds, and will have paid for 

 their feed and raising and left a good profit. 



Cattle of this weight, when of good quality and carrying a 

 reasonable finish, are never over-supplied on the market, and bring, 

 especially at that time of year, as good a price as any class of cat- 

 tle sold.* 



It goes without saying that steers to be profitably handled in 

 this way must be well bred, uniform in type and quality, and must 

 be capable of making rapid gains, of fattening early and finishing 

 up smoothly. 



For a general discussion of the feeds to use and general meth- 

 ods of handling the cattle, the reader is referred to the second part 

 of this paper, which deals especially with these problems. 



//. Raising Beef on Thinner Soil. 



The second class of farmers is composed of men whose land 

 is better adapted to grazing than to grain growing, and is too 

 rough, too much inclined to wash, or too thin to be successfully and 

 profitable grown in corn, except at intervals. Such a man is long 

 on pasture and short on grain and, as has been stated before, must 

 look to the grazing period for his profits, and must plan to get 

 his cattle through the winter at the minimum expense and in a 

 moderately fleshed condition, in order that they may graze most 

 profitably. 



It is true a man so situated might grow an excess of clover 

 and cowpea hay for the benefit it would be to his land as well as for 

 its value in growing stock, and then buy extra corn and feed his 

 calves out the following summer on grass, precisely as described 

 for the first class of farmers. If he be located convenient to a 

 large, regular and cheap corn supply, there is no reason why this 

 practice would not be as profitable in one case as in the other, and 



•For a full discussion of the influence of the season of the year, weight, quality and 

 fatness upon the selling price of cattle on the market, see Missouri Experiment Station 

 Bulletin No'. 76, pp. 42-51, 



