Feed and Management of Faitening CkUOe. 397 



Texas Experiment Station. ^ 



Corn and cotton seed, libs. 



Av. wt. of steers fed 576 



Daily gain 1.9 



Com 5.3 



Cotton seed 5.2 



Hay 5.3 



m. Fattening Range Cattle. 



609. Description of operations. — About the year 1885 several 

 companies controlling Western ranges undertook the experiment 

 of moving cattle to points in the corn belt for fattening while in 

 transit to the stock markets. Two results were sought, — a higher 

 finish, and relieving an overstocked range. Of the several efforts 

 in this direction, that of the Standard Cattle Co., with ranches in 

 Wyoming and Montana, and a feeding establishment at Ames, 

 INeb., is the best example. The possessions of this company at 

 Ames include a number of farms aggregating several thousand 

 acres, with additional rented lands lying in the Platte valley pos- 

 sessing a rich, black, sandy soil, well adapted to corn growing. 



The barn of this company is 682 feet long and over 200 feet 

 wide, with a capacity for 3,008 steers, each animal occupying a 

 separate stall 4x8 feet. There are eight double rows of cattle with 

 heads toward each other. A tramway extends between each 

 double row of cattle, down which a car travels used for distribut- 

 ing the meal and hay, which are placed in broad, flat feeding 

 boxes, the sides of which act as rails for the car wheels. On each 

 side of the feed boxes next to the steers is a narrow trough through 

 which fresh water for drinking continually flows. The pumps 

 which lift this water also send a flood down the ditch behind the 

 steers, into which passes from each stall the voidings of the animals, 

 the whole wasting into the Platte river. The roof of this monster 

 barn begins low at the sides and rises by steps with windows in 

 each rise, so that the interior is well lighted and easily ventilated. 

 A mill and elevator adjoining is connected by a tramway. The 

 arrangements permit feeding the cattle and cleaning the stable 

 with the minimum of labor. Each season, in addition to the 



1 BuL 27. 



