326 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



or sixteen months old, the feed required would be one thing. If he 

 intends to sell them at thirty months old for feeders, another ration will 

 be required. If he intends them for baby beef, we would feed about all 

 they will eat up clean from start to finish. The ration should be corn 

 and oats, or damaged or shriveled wheat, about half and half, with good 

 clover, alfalfa hay or corn fodder. If -e had alfalfa hay, we would not 

 feed any small grain except as a variety. If clover hay, we would feed 

 a little oats or wheat or ground rye. If we had corn fodder without 

 clover, then we would certainly make half the grain ration oats screen- 

 ings or bleached wheat. 



We speak of these grains now, because over a large section of our 

 territory there is a very large amount of wheat that will not sell for over 

 40 cents, and a great deal of oats that will not sell for more than 10 or 

 15 cents. A good calf will give more for this than the grain dealer at the 

 station. If properly cared for otherwise, this ration will bring the calves 

 through in good high flesh the next spring. We would continue the 

 grain on grass and would never stop feeding grain until they were ready 

 for market, whether that was in June, August or October. When calves 

 fed in this way reach a weight of 1,100 to 1,200 pounds, ordinarily they 

 should go. The time of marketing, however, will depend on prices. 



If we intended these calves for feeders merely, we would feed the 

 same ration, but only about half* as much of it. We would aim to keep 

 them gaining at the rate of not less than a pound a day during the first 

 winter. A pound and a half might be made without getting them too fat. 

 We would continue this grain feed until grass became solid, or in other 

 words, nutritious. We would then discontinue it until the succeeding 

 winter and would then put them on a half ration, keeping up a steady 

 gain, and let them have another season of grass. 



Which of these two methods of feeding is the most profitable de- 

 pends on circumstances too various to describe. Suffice it to say that th^ 

 man with a large amount of pasture and the farmer on a large farm 

 will probably make more money by growing these calves as feeders, while 

 the man on a small farm with plenty of grain of his own growing, if he 

 is a scientific feeder, can make more money by the shorter method. The 

 care required other than above mentioned would be good, comfortable 

 out of door shelters, protecting them from wind and rain, good bedding 

 and an abundant opportunity for exercise in the sunlight. All calves 

 whether intended for lighter feeding or stock feeding should be vacci- 

 nated for blackleg, especially in Missouri, southwestern Iowa, south- 

 eastern Nebraska and Kansas. 



We would feed calves that are intended for beef precisely the same 

 as steers. If they are intended for dairy purposes, however, we would 

 feed quite differently. We would separate them from the steers, and 

 while we would give the steers plenty of corn, we would give the calves 

 intended for dairy purposes as little as possible. In neither case would 

 we grind it except for the first ten days or two weeks, while we were 

 making the change. A calf's time is not of much value, and it may as 

 well grind its own corn. If in health, it will not pass any corn undigested 



