474 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Mr. Brockway : Y<'s, sir. I tliiiik those ealves could really be 

 developed cheaper l)y feeding them right straight througli tiie 

 summer on silage, giving them all they will eat, the cottonseed meal, 

 and a small ration — five or six pounds — of corn, than by feeding 

 them grass. We have pasture and feed our steers on it. The 

 heifers we feed clear through to marketing time in the lot on only 

 the minimum grain ration and silage, and they will get fat without 

 the full feed of corn. I think it is profitable to full-feed the steer 

 the last few weeks if it is on grass. I usually market the heifers 

 around April. 



A Member: Do you have ditficulty in finding the kind you 

 want ? 



Mr. Brockway : Not at all ; it is getting easier every year. 



Mr. Goodenow^ : Can they be put on feed promptly ? 



Mr. Brockway : Very promptly, especially by putting a little 

 salt on it. 



A Member .- Do you have any trouble with blackleg 1 



Mr. Brockway : I never have had a case ; I may be lucky in that 

 respect. The southern cattlemen have trouble with it right on the 

 range. They use the government vaccine. I don't believe there 

 are better bred cattle any place in the country than these white- 

 faced calves grown in the Panhandle. I believe that blackleg is 

 simply a germ disease, and that if you have it on your farm you 

 will continue to have it unless you get it cleaned out. 



A Member : Do you vaccinate the calves for blackleg ? 



Mr. Brockway : I never have. I know the loss is very disastrous 

 sometimes. In one of the bunches of calves that I received this 

 year two calves had died from blackleg within less than two days 

 before they were received. The blackleg had been common in that 

 range. If T had suspected having anything of that kind in the 

 herd, I would have vaccinated them in a minute. Tiie}' have splen- 

 did success by using vaccine. 



A Member: How many pounds in a day do those calves put on 

 when you start them at 350 to 400 ])Ounds? 



Mr. Brockway: The bigger the calf the more gain it will make. 

 If they weigh 350 to 400 pounds the first of Novemlx'r, by June or 

 July they will be weighing 700 or 800 pounds. The grain that they 

 would eat would be about five or six pounds a day, with all the 

 ensilage that they would take. 



A Meml)er : ITow maiiv shotes can vou I'liii aflcr these calves? 



