FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 211 



however, an ample supply of grain will be called 

 for. The grain ration should contain 15 to 20 per 

 cent of oil meal or cottonseed meal if the calves are 

 pastured on timothy, prairie, Bermuda or blue grass. 

 If the pasture consists of mixed grasses, clover and 

 alfalfa, not more than 10 per cent of the concen- 

 trates need to be of a protein nature. Calves fed in 

 this manner should weigh from 1 ,000 to 1,200 

 pounds and be ready for market before tormenting 

 insects and hot weather come to annoy them. 



BEEVES FINISHED AT TWO YEARS OF 

 AGE 



Objections Against Baby Beef. For animals 

 brought up to marketable stage as baby beef, con- 

 tinuous grain feeding from birth to the end is neces- 

 sary. Whether this is best is still an unsettled prob- 

 lem, even though many men are able to secure good 

 profits by following the plan. The method has its 

 limitations. While adaptable to the lines of farm- 

 ing operated on certain farms, the practice of car- 

 rying cattle along until in the range at two years of 

 age is still the more popular practice. Most likely 

 it meets the conditions of the average farm on which 

 beef cattle are grown. 



In the first place the steer is, by nature, a good 

 instrument for converting large amounts of coarse 

 or bulk food into meat. The pig is not able to do 

 this. Compared with the pig, the baby beef steer 

 renders a less satisfactory account of the grain it 

 consumes. For this reason doubtless this pig com- 



