162 LIVE STOCK MANAGEMENT. 



watered as usual, and allowed to eat hay in the feed lots all 

 forenoon. When returned to the feed lot they should have 

 all the coarse fodder they will consume and their regular 

 allowance of grain. By continuing this method from ten days 

 to two weeks, gradually increasing the time in the pasture, 

 gain can be made continuously in the great majority of cases. 



The advantages of the above methods are mostly in favor 

 of the pasture lot. It allows the grass to make a good growth 

 early in the season, thus enabling it to withstand heavier 

 grazing later on, and also periods of drought. The objections 

 are that some cattle after once grazing upon fresh grass will 

 not take kindly to the roughage supplied in the dry feed lot. 



The other method of accomplishing this change, in many 

 respects the best one to adopt, is to allow the cattle a run 

 of the grass lot as it commences to grow in the spring. This 

 is especially true when the pasture lots are convenient to 

 the feed yards so that the cattle may have access to both 

 without involving too much labor on the part of the feeder. 

 Another point which will aid very much in making this 

 change will be the presence of the old grass in the pasture 

 lot. The wise feeder will not allow his pasture lots to be 

 grazed too closely the previous fall. An abundance of dried 

 grass in the spring of the year will aid the feeder very much 

 in making a gradual change from the feed lot to the pasture 

 lot, as then the tender blades, which are very watery, will 

 be combined with some of the matured grass, thus affording 

 a more substantial diet. Where the above mentioned condi- 

 tions prevail, the cattle should be allowed the run of the 

 pasture lot before the grass has made much growth. They 

 should receive their regular allowance of grain and have 

 fresh roughage supplied in their feed racks as long as they 

 will partake of the same. This allows of a most gradual 

 change. As the grass makes more growth they will get a 

 little more of it each day, thus requiring that much less of 

 the fodder in the feed lot. As previously stated, the presence 

 of matured grass in the pasture lot will aid very much in 

 bringing about this change. 



Recent tests along this line conducted by the Iowa Ex- 

 periment Station on the Cook farms at Odebolt, Iowa, have 

 demonstrated that such a change is feasible. The cattle con- 

 tinued to eat their former roughage for several weeks and 

 made better than two and a half pounds gain per steer per 



