SELECTION OF FEEDER STEERS. 14J> 



are concerned, and when taken to the market, if finished, 

 should find the top. 



There is a leggy sort of steer possessing some general 

 roughness which will make a fair feeder. He will do away 

 with large quantities of feed and will always be up at the 

 rack, but he will not make such economical gains, nor will 

 he finish up at such an early age, and when he goes to mar- 

 ket he cannot command the highest price because he is off 

 on general quality. A steer of this kind is a loser all round. 



Never select a long headed, long, slim necked, peaked 

 shouldered, narrow backed, slab sided, thin quartered, cat 

 hammed, harsh handling steer to put into a feed lot. Avoid 

 steers that are weak in constitution. They will always be a 

 source of annoyance by going off feed. 



Choice feeders such as have been described above can 

 come only from some one of the special beef breeds. It is 

 not necessary that the dams should be registered. It is 

 well enough to have them high grades. It is necessary, how- 

 ever, that the sire should be a pedigreed animal with good 

 ancestry, and at the same time he himself should possess 

 the good points which we demand in the feeder, together 

 with that degree of masculinity which will insure prepotency. 



Investigations have gone to show that beef bred feeders 

 are by all odds the most economical to feed. They dress a 

 higher percentage; deposit fat between the muscular tissue 

 instead of laying it on internally; their meat is "marbled" 

 and possesses a higher market value because of its juiciness 

 and delicious flavors. 



It is better to buy young steers that have been kept 

 growing right along from birth and are in a good thrifty 

 condition. It is a well known fact that young animals make 

 more rapid and much more economical gains for the food 

 fed than do older animals. At the Chicago Fat Stock Show 

 in 1882 the cost of producing 100 pounds of gain was ascer- 

 tained to be as follows: 



1 to 12 months. 12 to 24 months. 24 to 36 months. 

 $4.03. $7.98. $12.54. 



Other investigations with larger numbers of animals have 

 shown similar results. 



Young steers, too, adapt themselves to new and changed 

 conditions more readily than do older ones and lose less time 



