124 FARM ANIMALS 



PASTURES 



The pastures in which steers are allowed to run 

 vary greatly in different parts of the country. In 

 some localities they contain nothing but native 

 grasses and are often not continuously sodded 

 over. On the other hand in localities where a 

 more intensive system of farming is practiced the 

 pasture may always consist of some cultivated 

 forage plant, especially leguminous or mixed 

 grasses in fine condition. On the western ranges, 

 pasture consists of the highly nutritious range 

 grasses which cover the arid plains and which 

 are as nutritious as well-cured hay in winter. 

 Statistics collected in Illinois indicate that pastures 

 contain blue grass in fifty-five per cent, of cases, 

 timothy in twenty-five per cent, and clover in 

 ten per cent. In many tests carried on at experi- 

 ment stations, the use of pastures in fattening 

 steers has not given satisfactory results. Nearly 

 all practical feeders, however, give their steers the 

 freedom of a pasture and find that the results are 

 satisfactory both in the rate and economy of gain. 

 In general, it is necessary that a small grain ration 

 be fed to steers on pasture even if they are not 

 being forced at the time. In Nebraska it has 

 been found that when steers are to be marketed in 

 the fall or early winter there is more profit in keep- 

 ing them on pasture during the summer with a grain 

 ration whereas, when steers are to be marketed 

 in the spring there is more profit in keeping them 

 on pasture without grain. In Alabama some 

 interesting data were collected regarding the 

 gains made on native pasture by scrub cattle. 

 These observations extended over a period of 

 three years, during which the native cattle were 



