SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII. 611 



always be -.veil masticated and mixed with saliva or it cannot be easily 

 and quickly digested. Almost every farmer knows that the hog which 

 has the heaveist jowls is the best feeder and so with beef cattle. We 

 all ought to be careful what kind of cattle we raise and feed, because it 

 is for the interest of the grain raiser, the feeder, the consumer and also 

 the man who sells the meat off th^ block. 



The above mentioned cattle weighed in Chicago 1,287 pounds and 

 gained a little better than two pounds a day winter and summer. I fed 

 young cattle because the market seemed to be better in hot weather for 

 light handy weight stuff. I raised fifty pigs from the twelve sow^s and I 

 did not have to feed them scarcely anything while they followed the cat- 

 tle. After March 21 they had some shelled corn (soaked) put into their 

 troughs every evening. 



TWO POUNDS A GOOD GAIN. 



CHARLES MOXSOX, FREMOXT COUXTY, IOWA, TX BREEDERS GAZETTE. 



With reference to the seven car loads of cattle I had on the Chicago 

 market the first week in November I would say the entire bunch consisted 

 of 110 head and they fetched $5.80. That may seem rather high, but take 

 the prices of feed, and everything into consideration, they did not make a 

 great deal of money. They were on feed eight months. I bought them ■ 

 in Kansas City last December. They were of mixed breeding and were 

 two years old. They gained fifty pounds a month and were dehorned. 

 They were a good blocky bunch of feeders. And right here I would 

 like to say a few words about gains. I have read a great deal about 

 big gains on steers but as far as my twenty years of continued experience 

 goes an average of two pounds a day is the best that I could do and I 

 think I am as well fixed to feed cattle as anybody in this part of the 

 country. My cattle feed from a self feeder and have plenty of grass and 

 pure well water. The fore part of the season the above cattle ate ear 

 corn, the latter part they had shelled corn and some oats mixed in- 

 They had their own way about going into pasture or into the yard to tho 

 Avater and they had salt by them all the time. I always see to it also 

 that the bunks are kept clean, and that corn is drawn to them all the 

 time. I generally have enough hogs following to keep all waste cleaned 

 up. Our farmers buy most of their feeders in Omaha and Kansas City. 

 There are very few good steers raised around here. The size of my feed 

 lot is about two acres. I have it divided into two lots. I have been 

 feeding cattle in summer and winter, but I am not going to feed this win- 

 ter. The outlook for good cattle is a puzzle. 



