THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XH 649 



In the past Iowa has been famous as a cattle feeding state. True we 

 have had some "beef producers" but the vast majority of our farmers 

 have been cattle feeders. From now on conditions will gradually change. 

 Beef production will become a more important industry in Iowa. With 

 this will come more silos, more bluegrass pastures, a largely increased 

 acreage of alfalfa, less soil robbing and a more permanent form of agri- 

 culture. 



By cattle feeding we mean the fattening of more or less mature steers 

 for the market. These cattle may be home grown or may be produced 

 on the ranges of the Northwest, the West or the Southwest. In the past 

 the majority of such cattle have come from the range and remained on 

 the Iowa farm from four to twelve months, or long enough to make them 

 marketable beef. 



The problem which now confronts the old time cattle feeder is the 

 source of his supply of feeders. In former years the range produced 

 an abundance of feeder cattle. This supply has fallen off rapidly and 

 there is little prospect of increased supply. This means that the cattle 

 feeder as we knew him in the past must give way in a measure to the 

 beef producer. 



Beef production is an important question of the day. Iowa needs on 

 the average 1,000 beef producers in each county. Each man to market 

 about eighteen or twenty good 1,000 to 1,.200 pound fat animals each year 

 at from $85 to $100 per head, making a grand total of from $175,000,000 

 to $200,000,000 worth of beef each year. This would leave 1,000 farmers 

 in the state for the dairy business. It would mean the marketing of our 

 crops in the form of meat and dairy products and would prove a wonder- 

 ful aid to the conservation of our soil. It would mean one or more silos 

 on each farm — hence the utilization of the corn stalks now wasted. We 

 would then be on a par with the good farmers of England and Scotland, 

 and our land would be paying dividends on a from $200 to $300 per acre 

 A'aluation. 



By "beef production" we mean the growing and finishing of our own 

 cattle for market. This requires skill and good management to insure 

 success. Haphazard methods of breeding and feeding have no place on 

 the farm of the "beef producer." Good beef sires of the early maturing 

 kind are demanded. Corn silage, alfalfa, clover and other palatable forms 

 of roughage will be fed in conjunction with corn, cotton seed meal, oil 

 meal or other nitrogenous concentrates. 



Beef production may be carried on at a profit on the Iowa farm, either 

 as a straight baby beef proposition or as a beef and milk combination. 

 By the selection of grade beef cows with a tendency toward milk pro- 

 duction, milking them and rearing the calves on skim milk and grain 

 adjuncts it is not difficult to make it a paying proposition. The butter 

 made will provide for the keep of the cow and at the same time leave 

 a balance on the right side of the ledger. The calves reared on skim 

 •milk and grain should weigh around 700 pounds at twelve months of age 

 and would cost at the outside $30. These animals can be put on the 

 market at around twenty-four months of age weighing from 1,200 to 

 1,300 pounds and show good profit for all feed consumed. If the man 



