DKY LOT FEEDING. 157 



expense of grinding unless it be in the finishing period. At 

 this time the steer's digestive apparatus seems to be more 

 or less wearied, and the change from whole to ground grain 

 will usually result in stimulating gains. 



Getting cattle properly started on feed is important, and 

 many novices make the error of undertaking to start the 

 steers too rapidly. The result is that the animals go off 

 feed, get to scouring, and are seriously set back. If the cattle 

 are natives, no difficulty will be experienced in starting them 

 on corn. Range steers, however, must acquire a taste for 

 grain, and it will often require two weeks feeding to get 

 them thoroughly in the notion of eating corn. During this 

 time they should receive such roughness as is at hand corn 

 fodder, hay or straw and should be given snapped corn. 

 This is the best feed known with which to start cattle. As 

 Professor Henry tersely puts it, "There is a freshness and 

 palatability about an ear of corn wrapt in nature's covering 

 which every steer recognizes and shows by the eagerness 

 with which he consumes it." The feeding hours should be 

 regular, and the attendants quiet. A rough, boisterous man 

 will do untold damage to a bunch of steers. If the feed is 

 to be a long one, the animals should receive but 4 or 5 

 pounds per head daily at first, with a gradual increase to 

 about 10 pounds per head daily by the end of the first month. 

 During the second month the feed can be gradually increased 

 and the animals brought to full feed by the middle of the 

 third month, and it will probably be advisable, where grind- 

 ing is cheap, to shift them to ground corn by the beginning 

 of the fourth month, even though the hogs are following. 

 Where a short feed is the rule, the feed should be increased 

 more rapidly; starting on 5 pounds per head daily, the in- 

 crease should be so gauged that they will be receiving 14 

 or 15 pounds per head daily by the end of the first month. 

 They should be on full feed, usually about 25 pounds, by the 

 middle of the second month, and for the most rapid forcing 

 the grain should be ground and mixed with cut hay or straw. 



Changes in feed should always be made cautiously, and 

 can best be accomplished by gradually reducing one feed, 

 while increasing the other, and where cattle are on full feed, 

 at least a week or ten days should elapse in making the 

 change. At the start one feed per day is enough, but as the 

 feed is increased two feeds are preferable. 



