DRV LOT FEEDING. 153 



Good underdrainage is the first consideration, and where 

 the feed lots are located on a slope the tile should be laid 

 along the upper side of the lots, so as to prevent the moisture 

 from passing down from the higher land. The lot should 

 then be graded up with plow and scraper until it is high in 

 the center, with a fair slope to the sides; then haul gravel 

 on the lot until it is fairly well surfaced. This will require 

 the expenditure of some labor, but this will be practically 

 all, as there are but few parts of Iowa where gravel cannot 

 be obtained from gravel knolls or from stream beds. The 

 damage done to feeding cattle through having to remain in a 

 muddy feed lot may not be fully apparent to the novice, or 

 to those whose methods are so slipshod that they are unable 

 to tell definitely as to whether they are making a profit or 

 loss during the muddy weather; but while we have as yet 

 no definite data on this subject, experienced feeders are a 

 unit in declaring that profitable gains cannot be made in 

 muddy yards, and in a feeding experiment conducted by the 

 Iowa Experiment Station in 1903, where one lot of cattle 

 was kept in a fairly well drained yard, while another lot, 

 equally well fed, was kept in an extremely muddy lot, those 

 in the well drained lot made nearly double the gains that 

 the others did; and as it is a recognized fact that the great- 

 est gains can only be secured when cattle are most com- 

 fortable, no farther argument in favor of dry feed lots should 

 "be necessary. Bedding should be supplied in sufficient quan- 

 tity to permit the cattle to lie down in comfort. Economy 

 will usually be subserved by scattering the bedding on some 

 one side of the lot, and only over a limited space. 



Expensive stabling is not to be thought of under western 

 conditions, and it is very doubtful whether the stall fed 

 steer enjoys life as fully, or gains as rapidly, as the brother 

 of the open feed lot. Protection from winds, however, should 

 T>e given either by artificial groves on the north and west 

 or by tight board fences. Inasmuch as groves cannot be 

 supplied on short notice, the tight board fences are often 

 resorted to, and with excellent success. These should be 

 strong and substantial, and are best made by setting strong 

 posts from 10 to 14 feet apart, nailing three 2x4 horizontally 

 to them at top, center and bottom and then nailing inch 

 "boards, six feet long, perpendicularly to these. The top 

 should be surmounted by regular fence capping, which can 



