CATTLE GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 785 



through the cattle. All who have tried the plan of feeding 

 whole corn to cattle, and allowing hogs to follow, agree in giv- 

 ing it a high feeding value for the hogs, and the lowest claim 

 made is that corn is worth half as much for hogs, after it has 

 been fed to cattle, as it would be if fed directly to them. 



Mr. John D. Gillett, who is one of the largest and most 

 successful cattle feeders of Illinois, estimates that fifty dollars' 

 worth of pork can be made from the corn fed to a steer dur- 

 ing the two years from the spring it is a yearling, and that the 

 steer will, in this time, eat two hundred and thirty-five bushels 

 of corn, worth, at thirty-five cents a bushel, $81.75. This 

 estimate makes the pork pay considerably more than half the 

 cost of the corn, and is made where the feeding is on what 

 might be called the forcing plan, where the cuttle are fed corn 

 summer and winter from the time they are one year old till 

 marketed. I accept this estimate of Mr. Gillett's with little 

 question of its accuracy, as he has been largely engaged in the 

 business of cattle feeding for many years, and few men have 

 had as good a chance to ascertain the facts. 



The farmer who grows wheat largely can, by utilizing his 

 straw, winter cattle much cheaper that those who must feed 

 hay. I am much inclined to doubt the economy of wintering 

 cattle on hay alone, as is the practice in many of the dairy re- 

 gions, for I think it not only better for the animal, but cheaper, 

 to feed some grain or other food. If an animal is wintered on 

 hay alone, unless it is of the best quality, it is impossible for it 

 to eat and digest enough to furnish the necessary nutriment. 

 A few pounds of bran and corn substituted for twice as many 

 pounds of hay will give a ration more easily digested, more 

 palatable, and better calculated to supply all the need of the 

 system, and often at a less cost. 



The proportionate feeding value of corn and good meadow 

 hay is that of fifty-nine to one hundred. In round numbers, 

 we may therefore say that a bushel of corn will be equal to a 

 hundred weight of hay, or twenty bushels of corn to a ton of 

 hay. At this rate, corn, at fifty cents a bushel, is as cheap a 

 food as hay at $10.00 per ton. 



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