FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 



255 



industry is centered in this section. The Far West section, on the 

 other hand, furnished nearly one-fifth of the total number of cattle 

 other than milch cows, which were largely raised and fattened by 

 different owners. 



With the passing of the public grazing domain and the gradual 

 opening up of the range country in the western States to farmers, 

 the second system is slowly giving way to the former; this implies, 

 as we shall see, important changes also in the methods of feeding 

 adopted. Farmers who raise and fatten their own cattle live in 

 agriculturally well-developed States where land is high priced and 



MILLIONS 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 



1890 



1900 



FIG. 59. From 1890 to 1910 the number of cattle in this country increased from 

 53,000,000 to 69,000,000, an increase of 30 per cent., and 'the population increased from 

 63,000,000 to 92,000,000, an increase of about 46 per cent. The ratio of cattle to popula- 

 tion was, in 1890, 100 : 84, and in 1910, 100 : 67. 



feeding operations expensive, and they must, therefore, get the 

 cattle ready for market in shorter time than is necessary for the 

 cattle men on the western plains and ranges. The latter occupy 

 large areas of cheap lands and can keep cattle at a relatively low 

 cost, so that it is not so important whether they are marketed at 

 three or four years of age. The farmer in the eastern and central 

 States can produce beef profitably only by keeping stock of the 

 improved beef breeds or using pure-bred beef bulls and giving the 

 cattle good care and attention ; they must also be fed with a view to 

 being marketed at an early age, either as baby beef, yearlings, or 

 two-year-olds (Fig. 59). 



