FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 471 



the same, but the heifers will obtain that finish or fat covering wanted 

 by the butcher at an earlier age than the steer will. The steers are put 

 on grass as soon as the ground in the pasture has settled in the spring, 

 and the same silage and grain ration is continued. As the grass im- 

 proves the silage may be decreased until by the time grass is good the 

 silage is discontinued. At the same time that the silage ration is de- 

 creased the grain ration is raised so that by the time the silage is dis- 

 continued the grain is practically doubled. About ten or twelve 

 pounds of corn on good pasture is all that we feed until five or six 

 weeks before marketing. Then we give them all the corn they will eat. 

 Cottonseed meal may be gradually decreased and finally discontinued 

 after going on grass. 



The most critical period of feeding is the time of going from silage to 

 grass. Professor Curtiss has often told us than any changing period 

 is a losing period. Therefore it is essential that we make as radical a 

 change as this very slowly, and without sudden changing of the ration. 

 Remember that silage is ever so much better and stronger feed than the 

 soft new grass. One has all the sunshine of a long summer stored up 

 in it and the other has only that of a few soft warm days. Be sure to 

 let the silage lap well over a period of feeding on the grass. 



Our feeding equipment and methods are very simple. "We have only 

 sheds with dirt floors for shelter. About one-third of the south side is 

 open for doors. All shock corn and straw is fed in racks inside the 

 sheds; the waste stalks will keep the shed bedded. Plenty of clean water 

 protected from heavy freezing is also inside the shed. For fifty feet in 

 front of the sheds and running their entire length is a concrete feeding 

 floor and a concrete driveway extends to the silos that stand at the end 

 of each shed. The silage, corn and cottonseed meal are fed in bunks 

 twelve inches deep that set on the feeding floor. The lots and sheds are 

 subdivided so as not to allow too many calves together and to make it 

 possible to divide them according to size so that the stronger calves will 

 not rob the smaller ones. We feed silage, corn fodder and cottonseed 

 meal in the morning; another feed of silage after dinner and the small 

 feed of corn just before night. Much better results are had by making 

 the feed of grain at night both on grass and w^ith silage. If fed at this 

 time it is retained longer by the animal and I believe that it is digested 

 better. If the grain is fed in the morning and the coarse feed fed later, 

 there is a tendency for the corn to be crowded through the animal and 

 not thoroughly digested. Feeding the corn at this time of the day is to 

 our calf like the bringing on of the plum pudding after a turkey dinner; 

 it is really not needed so far as the appetite is concerned, but neverthe- 

 less it is highly appreciated. Feeding corn at this time of the day in- 

 sures that the animal is eating the surplus feed that will produce the 

 quick gains and finish. 



I do not advocate the feeding of Texas calves as a get-rich-quick 

 scheme; I do recommend it as a means of marketing the products of an 

 Iowa farm. When big cattle are making money as they do sometimes, 

 they may do b,etter than the calves, but one year with another, I believe 

 that bg^by beef js a surer proposition. One is not so likely to find the 

 Jean fears that tome so often to the feeders of heavy cattle. With this 



