536 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



within my observation, but rich rations to supply the place of the jbutter 

 fat removed will be needed for three or four months. 



Mill stuffs, when prices are right, should have a place when oil meal 

 is not at hand, and when calves are not on grass. 



The cost of the grain for a calf on fall milk, up to six months of age. 

 Avill not much exceed five dollars, the equivalent of twelve and one half 

 bushels of corn at forty cents per bushel. 



The weaned calf will thrive better on a ground ration of corn and 

 ■oats than on dry feed; bran, oil meal or clover hay will be needed up to 

 twelve months, when the calf should weigh from ten to twelve hundred 

 pounds. The cost of the grain for the second six months of the calf will 

 not much exceed fourteen dollars, bringing the total cost of the grain 

 for the year to nineteen dollars; the equivalent of forty-seven and one 

 half bushels of corn at- forty cents. 



To the grain value consumed must be added the cost of the grass, 

 hay and milk. The grass and hay consumed will not exceed seven dol- 

 lars, and the milk value can be estimated as being the cost of the ma- 

 turing of the dam. The cheaper kept cows are those dropping their 

 calves in the spring, since the dry cow will winter on a good coarse 

 ration of rich corn stover, oat straw, millet and cane (sorghum), with 

 stock corn fed sparingly in the coldest weather. 



The corn stover and oat straw are waste products on most farm?, 

 and millet and sorghum are generous crops for the land needed to grow 

 them, hence the cow^ forage is cheaply provided. 



The cow dropping her winter calf must have a good forage and 

 grain ration until grass, which must be estimated to incrpa.se the cost 

 somewhat of the winter calf, but is compensated by the greater gain in 

 the weight for age heretofore mentioned. 



The best bred calves with generously milking dams can be made to 

 give one hundred pounds increase in weight for each month of age. Any 

 good calf should go to the market weighing one thousand pounds at 

 twelve months or thereabouts, under good conditions. 



As to the shelter in winter, the calf must have a dry pen with yard 

 sheltered from the winds for exercise; if confined in a barn with other 

 stock, great care must be taken that proper ventilation is provided. No 

 gain from the best feeding will be made if the stock is breathing impure 

 air during their confinement at night. Oon't expect the poisoned air to go 

 up the hog shute and escape, but open the doors and windows of the 

 "lee side" (the side opposite to the wind), so the heavy gaseous impuri- 

 ties may by circulation be drawn away. 



The number of farms where the cows are milked for the cream are 

 decreasing, the milking chore not being relished by many, so the num- 

 ber of cows that will be kept for product of the calf may be expected to 

 increase in number. There will be no profit in this without cows of the 

 best beef breeds are used, and pure bred bulls used to the end that a 

 quick growing and maturing, and so-called "easy keeping" stock may be 

 bred and raised. 



Choice one thousand to twelve hundred pound yearlings now sell at 

 the top. The twelve to fifteen hundred weight steers marketed in Chi- 



