Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 175 



tlie cattle and how much corn you have got to waste. I know feeders 

 who feed whole corn entirely, but most feeders break tlie corn and think 

 it the best plan. 



Q. How much clover hay do you feed ? 



A. I think they should be fed all they will clean up. I don't be- 

 lieve in feeding hay or any kind of feed extravagantly, l)ut T think they 

 can profitalily be fed regularly nil the clover hay they will clean up with- 

 out waste. 



Q. After you start to feeding cattle, how soon do you get tliem on 

 full feed ? 



A. That depends on tlie length of the feeding period. If I wanted 

 to get cattle off in a short feeding period I would get them on full feed 

 in a week or ten days. If I wanted to carry them longer I would take 

 more time in getting them on full feed. 



Q. Do you feed on dirt floors? 



A, I have a barn open on the south, and I feed everything in the 

 l)arn and sheds adjoining. They go in and out when they please. I 

 don't believe in close confinement of cattle, yet I don't believe in feeding 

 them in the t)pen. I like to have feed troughs under cover and feed, 

 everything under cover. There are many good tim]:)er feed lots, and I 

 know of some that are better than the average shed or barn and mud 

 lot. 



Q. Do you advise feeding once or twice a day? 



A. I would advise feeding twice a day, but many feeders feed only 

 once a day, with satisfactory results. 



Q. In case the water freezes in a tank, would it pay to put a 

 lieater in that tank. 



A. I believe in keeping the ice off the water, but I don't aim to keep 

 the temperature of tlie water much above freezing point. When the 

 water freezes over night we make a fire and thaw it out in the morning. 



Q. What age cattle is most profitable to feed? 



A. Gain can be made on calves cheaper than on yearlings, and on 

 yearlings cheaper than on two-year-olds, and on two-year-olds cheaper 

 than on three-year-olds, but that does not necessarily prove that there is 

 more profit in feeding calves. While the calf will make more pounds from 

 a bushel of corn, the average weight of the calf — say 400 pounds — is so 

 small that the advance over cost price will leave you a very small margin ; 

 while if you had a 1,000 or 1,200-pound steer and get an advance of $1.00 

 a hundred on a three to five months' feeding period you would have $10 

 or $12, and you can finish an aged steer in three or five months when you 

 might have to feed a calf for six, eight or ten months. I have fed calves 



