THE RAISING AND ECONOMICAL FEEDING OF CATTLE. 779 



In the foregoing we find a steer one year old and under two, weighing 

 1,193 pounds— as much as could be expected from a fairly-fattened four 

 year old fed as the average farmer feeds. Does any one suppose the 

 feeder spent as much on that yearling as the farmer ordinarily does on 

 his four year olds ? 



EX. Full Feeding and Early Maturity. 



By studying the foregoing it will be seen that the best gain was in the 

 steer one year old and under two, the next best is a steer two years old 

 and under three, and the third best gain is another steer two years old 

 and under three. The four-year old steer made the least average gain, 

 and the older the steer the less was the daily gain. 



Every observing farmer knowG that a calf allowed to run out during 

 the winter and shift for himself with the other cattle, if fed on hay, with 

 perhaps a nubbin of corn now and then, will weigh less in the spring than 

 it did the fall before. And those who have tried both systems of feeding 

 (full feeding from birth, with proper shelter, and allowing young stock 

 only hay with such shelter as they may be able to find) know there is 

 no profit in the latter, but absolute loss. 



There are, indeed, places where hay may be had simply for the making, 

 whore the grazing is ample and where cattle may be raised at a minimum" 

 cost, if good shelter is provided. But year by year such sections are 

 being more and more contracted, through the settlement of the country. 

 As a rule, the best profits are now made by the seeding of meadows and 

 pastures, by providing good shelter, and by the cultivation of corn enough 

 to carry the stock in good condition through the winter. This is really 

 the basis of profitable feeding in the West and South-west. 



X. Economy in Feeding. 



We have striven throughout this work to show that in the rearing of 

 stock, the same strict attention to business principles should prevail that 

 is necessary to success in any other calling. There must be a strict ac- 

 counting of profit and loss, else no man can know, excep*. m a haphazard 

 way, whether he is making money or not. The feeder should know, in 

 a general way, what food containing the elements of growth and possess- 

 ing fattening qualities is cheapest. This, of course, will vary with dif- 

 ferent sections of the country. 



An exi)erience of forty years in the West has taught us to rely princi- 

 pally on corn for all kinds of stock. For cattle, when the price was forty 

 cents a bushel or less, unground corn has been found the best ; while for 

 horses, sheep and swine, our experience has been that it does not pay to 

 grind when the price is below sixty cents, for these animals masticate oi 



