FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 217 



Often steers of this nature are carefully and pains- 

 takingly fattened, and when sold bring the highest 

 prices that the market pays. 



Fatten the Heifers Early. Heifer calves are very 

 good for baby beef. They naturally take on fat and 

 flesh, and if brought up to a marketable condition 

 by the time they are a year or a year and a half 

 old they will fetch as good prices as steers of the 

 same age. By turning heifers off as baby beeves 

 annoyance from the period of heat is lessened. 

 Otherwise, unless spayed, heifers will fret and dis- 

 turb the rest of the herd periodically, and not attain 

 best development themselves. It follows that if 

 many such heifers are in a herd there will be con- 

 tinuous excitement and disturbance, which is bad 

 for the entire bunch. It means that the heifers must 

 be separated as they come in heat if the trouble is 

 to be squarely faced ; but it is a fact that few cattle 

 men do this. Ridding the herd of these open heifers 

 at an early age as baby beeves seems to be a sensi- 

 ble and wise settlement of an annoying problem. 



PROMINENT FEEDING STUFFS 



Many Kinds of Roughage Foods. Local condi- 

 tions will have much to do in the choice of rough- 

 age foods. The various hay crops, corn stover, fod- 

 der corn, and silage are all valuable at certain 

 periods of the steer's growth. They will be used in 

 scant or liberal quantities, in accordance with the 

 supply and the general style of farming. Pastures 

 either of a temporary or a permanent nature will go 



