PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING 

 PART V. 



Management of the Beef Herd 



There are three systems of handling 

 Three Types beef-bred herds in common usage in 

 of Cattle the United States. The straight beef 



Farming system in which the steers are grown 



out as cheaply as possible is adapted 

 to regions where pasture is plentiful and cheap and is 

 practiced more widely in United States than any other 

 method of beef production. The dual purpose system is 

 used more commonly in the general farming states 

 although up to the present it is not more popular than 

 the straight beef system if the numbers practicing it be 

 any criterion. In this system the cows are milked and 

 the calves are raised on skimmed milk and supplemental 

 feeds. The dual purpose calves as a rule are not as 

 economical beef producers as the straight beef calves 

 but when grown out and fattened they frequently make 

 very acceptable beef. The dual purpose system is com- 

 mendable only when adhered to properly, and is likely 

 to be quite unsuccessful if it is attempted to turn the 

 beef animals into a dairy herd. The baby beef system is 

 a highly specialized method and is adapted to such 

 districts as the cornbelt where there is a good supply 

 of feeds for fattening and sufficient pasture for the 

 summer maintenance of the breeding cows with their 

 calves. While it requires a little more equipment to 

 handle the herd the best market prices can be obtained 

 in baby beef as well as in the dual purpose systems, if 

 the calves are dropped in the fall and finished to market 

 in the summer and early fall. If calves are dropped in 

 the spring they should come late in February, March 

 or early April, but if they come in the fall, late August, 

 September and early October are preferable. The 



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