THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XH 645 



Live stock farming was upheld as the highest type of agriculture as 

 well as the best ])aying one. Half of the farms of the state should be 

 producing some beef either as a straight baby beef proposition or in 

 connection with some milking. It is Mr. Escher's opinion that a carload 

 of baby beeves from each of 100,000 Iowa farms each year would not 

 mean overproduction for the state. Pacific coast markets are taking and 

 will continue to take a large share of Western beef as fast as it is 

 produced. Eastern markets must be supplied largely from the corn belt 

 states. Iowa should produce at least her share of this. What Iowa needs 

 to increase profits in farming, make farm life more attractive and farmers 

 more contented, and to keep up the fertility of the Iowa farm is more 

 of the "Old Cow." 



Prof. W. J. Kennedy pointed out that from both the steer feeder's and 

 the beef eater's standpoint the situation is alarming. With a total beef 

 cattle supply estimated at 35,000,000 head against better than 50,000,000 

 head twelve years ago, accompanied by a 20,000,0'00 increase in popula- 

 tion in the United States, it is small wonder that feeding cattle and 

 beefsteak are both high. 



Two methods of beef production were outlined by Prof. Kennedy, who 

 talked on "Producing Beef on $250.00 Land." First was the straight baby 

 beef method where the calves are allowed to follow their mothers on pas- 

 ture, with some grain after the first two months are past. These calves 

 are pushed as rapidly as possible and sold when weighing around 1,000 

 to 1,100 pounds at from fifteen to eighteen months of age. The other 

 method of beef production recommended is where beef and milk are 

 produced together from cows of some ability in both directions. The 

 cows are milked and the calves are grown to yearlings on skim milk 

 or possibly two calves are allowed to suck one cow. 



The finishing process takes longer and the calves do not reach market 

 till from twenty-four to thirty months of age, weighing from 1,200 to 

 1,300 pounds or better. Either method was shown to be sufficiently 

 profitable to net six per cent on $250.00 land if present prices could be 

 secured for cattle. Nor does Prof. Kennedy look for lower prices. 



Rex Beresford, specialist for the Association, corrolx)rated the state- 

 ments of Prof. Kennedy by shov/ing that twenty-four Iowa farmers had 

 produced baby beef during the last year at a profit on high priced land 

 and with high priced feeds. Eight hundred sixteen of these calves were 

 grown by these men during 1911 to fourteen and one-half months of age 

 and marketed weighing 832 pounds at $8.30 a cwt. or $69.00 a head. The 

 average cost of producing these calves on the high priced feeds of 1911 

 was $62.00, leaving a profit of $7.00 a head. 



"It was also shown that live stock farms are, on the whole, more produc- 

 tive than grain farms and that the average stock farm is more productive 

 than is the farm devoted exclusively to grain production. The average 

 yields of ten beef cattle farms in Iowa were compared with the yields 

 for the same years on grain farms in the same neighborhoods. It was 

 found that for a five year period the cattle farms averaged fourteen 

 bushels more corn per acre than did the grain farms. Other crop yields 

 were very nearly in proportion. 



