THE DECREASING MEAT SUPPLY 257 



of $5. At 1,200 pounds this animal would show a 

 profit of $9.00. 



Contrast this with the selling of the calf at six weeks. 

 The milk furnished by the mother of this calf may be 

 roughly estimated at two gallons a day. The farmer 

 can sell this milk in any ordinary market at about $.14 

 net per gallon. It therefore costs $.28 a day to nour- 

 ish the calf. For 42 days the total cost of keeping the 

 calf is $13.50. The calf should weigh 100 pounds, 

 and it is worth $.09 a pound, giving a selling price of 

 $9. The loss on the calf is only $4. 



Thus it is a toss-up, under present conditions, whether 

 the farmer should sell the calf at six weeks or keep him 

 for three years and a half and sell him for beef. There 

 is nothing in it for him in either case. The answer to 

 this statement is that the calf on the farm, growing up a 

 steer, eats food which the farmer could not sell. This 

 is the whole story in so far as any profit is concerned. 

 There is a certain amount of roughage and pasture on 

 every well regulated farm that the farmer could not 

 dispose of to profit, and hence it would be wasted if 

 it were not fed in the manner described. Any profit, 

 therefore, which the farmer gets from growing meat 

 animals, is due to the fact that he may utilize food 

 products which otherwise would be a total loss. 



GROWING BABY BEEF. 



In the scientific record of growing beef, namely, baby 

 beef, can better results be obtained ? In the first place 

 baby beef, that is, animals not over 18 or 20 months 

 of age, or two years at most, weighing from 900 to 

 1,100 pounds, bring a much higher price on the mar- 

 ket than ordinary beef cattle. This increase of price 

 amounts to from l l /o to 2 cents per pound on the hoof. 



