296 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



feed your young cattle and grow them up successfully on corn 

 alone. This is where a great many make mistakes. You must have 

 a property balanced ration. It must contain protein. Protein is 

 essential in the growing and building up of the young animal. For 

 this purpose oats is the best all-round grain we have. If oats are 

 not too high they should be fed, as nothing equals them for feeding 

 young animals or breeding cattle of any age. Now, corn being the 

 chief product that we grow in this section, it is necessary that we 

 utilize it, and a fair amount of it should be contained in the balanced 

 ration. We feed a ration composed of corn, oats and bran, or oil 

 meal, and we get very good results. Of course, bran is pretty high 

 in price. In Iowa a good many are feeding alfalmo — corn, alf almo 

 and oats. There is no definite rule to follow. We must feed this 

 and that and determine what is best. We must be governed by the 

 needs of the animal ; but, as a rule, we have found that a pound to 

 a pound and a half of grain for every 100 pounds live weight, in 

 addition to roughage, should give good results. So much for the 

 feeding of the animal. 



Have the Cattle Well Groomed. — We come now to the second 

 important factor — getting the cattle well groomed and ready for 

 the sale. They should have a good coat of hair. Oil meal is good 

 to give a soft, glossy coat, and rubbing is a good thing. The horns 

 should be kept trimmed up. A few hours spent in the trimming of 

 the horns oftentimes adds many dollars to the value when the ani- 

 mal is shown. If the horns are blunt cut them down, scrape them 

 and polish them up. Another and most important point is to have 

 the feet in shape. A breeder looking for an animal wants one 

 good on its feet and legs. Don't offer an animal for either private 

 or auction sale with its hoofs grown out and turned up. It is a 

 decided mistake. 



Have the Cattle Properly Broken. — The third point is to have 

 the animals properly broken, or halter broken. I don't know of any 

 surer way to ruin a sale than to bring in the second or third ani- 

 mal and have it get away. If there is anything that will knock the 

 average of the sale down, that will. It may knock off $30 or $40 

 for all the rest of your animals. It will pay better to spend $25 or 

 $30 and get a man to teach those animals to lead and to stand than 

 to have one of them get away and spoil the sale. If an animal gets 

 away early in the sale, it will be sure to spoil the sale. I have seen 

 men bring animals to the sale that could not be led, just simply had 

 to be driven in. If such men lose a dollar they lose two thousand 



