Factories That l\ever Shut Down 



TheRC Carroll County Farmers Go Right 

 Ahead Producing Beef Regardless of 

 the lips and Douns in Cattle Prices 



J^ N THE eastern part of Carroll 



l)l county, Illinois, you will find 

 \^_^ such experienced cattle feeders 

 as Fred Wilhelm, Fred Guenzler and 

 others who have been carrying on for 

 20 to 30 years or more, running from 

 300 to 500 heavy cattle through their 

 pastures and feed lots annually. Lit- 

 erally these farms are beef factories 

 that never shut down. For despite 

 fluctuations in prices of feed and feeder 

 cattle Wilhelm, Guenzler and their 

 neighbors keep going like an endless 

 chain, buying, finishing, marketing. 



As soon as the beeves are fattened 

 and move out of the yards for Chicago, 

 another bunch is on the way from the 

 range via the terminal market to take 

 their place. And herein lies one of the 

 secrets of successful cattle feeding. The 

 speculation present in laying $70 to 

 llOO a head on the line for heavy 

 feeders is minimized when you stay 

 with the business, win, lose, or draw 

 on any particular lot. 



When experienced feeders drop a 

 wad of money as most of them do 



FRED WILHELM. left and M. P. ROSEE. farm adviser 

 "When you have the grass, you get cheaper gains." 



from time to time, they count it part 

 of the business. The money made or 

 lost is important but by no means every- 

 thing. Here is a game — and a fascin- 

 ating one too — where wits", luck and 

 skill all figure in the final result. 

 To "make it back where you lost it" 

 requires courage as well as good judg- 

 ment. Because feeding heavy cattle 

 involves considerable capital and other 

 rather rigid requirements there is le.ss 

 competition in this branch of the busi- 

 ness. And so the percentage of prime 

 heavy cattle on any market is not high. 

 Frequently they bring a substantial pre- 

 mium over the ordinary run of fed 

 steers. 



Wilhelm, for example, bought 111 

 head of 1020 pound steers from St. 

 Paul last fall that cost $90 a head laid 

 down. The freight bill alone came 

 to $(^80, he says. These White Faces 

 were self-fed on corn and cob meal, 

 corn silage and 11^2 ^o '^o pounds of 

 cottonseed meal per head daily. There 

 is usually an abundance of red clover 

 and alfalfa hay available and in sum- 



mer the cattle have blue grass and clover 

 pasture. The St. Paul steers were sold 

 on the Chicago market early in May 

 at $12.40 and $11.50 per cwt. which 

 represented a satisfactory margin over 

 cost considering the price of corn. 



The cattle in the Wilhelm feed lot 

 now are range Hereford yearlings pur- 

 chased in October when they averaged 

 682 pounds. They were wintered on 

 corn silage from the three 40 foot 

 silos on this farm, supplemented with 

 11/2 pounds of cottonseed meal per 

 head daily. They also had access to 

 clover and alfalfa hay. The.^e yearlings 

 will be finished on self-fed corn and 

 cob meal, cottonseed meal and blue 

 grass pasture. They will be marketed 

 at weights ranging from 1200 to 1250 

 pounds in September. Early in M.iy 

 they were cleaning up with relish some 

 scabby barley ground with oats and 

 tankage that the hogs wouldn't eat. 



Wilhelm likes to feed on pasture 

 when it is available. "When you have 

 the grass, you get cheaper gains," he 

 says, "you save the labor of hauling 



STEERS AT SELF FEEDER ON GOENZLER FARM 

 "His cattle are oiten market toppers." 



MONTANA CALVES ON THE MACKAY FARM 

 "When they weigh 350 lbs. they are shipped to Illinois." 



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