280 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



gains, and occasionally one that would finish quite smooth, but the 

 majority would always remain rather coarse, rough, and paunchy. 



Grade 5. Common Feeders. This group shows but a very small 

 percentage of beef blood. Native and unimproved blood predomi- 

 nates. There is no uniformity in color and every steer shows a lack 

 of both quality and conformation. The steers are rather coarse boned 

 and large headed, and are plain throughout. They do not all have 

 similar faults, but all are noticeably deficient in some particular. 

 They are the kind that result from the somewhat common practice 

 of indiscriminate breeding and the too common practice of breeding 

 from inferior grade bulls. 



Grade 6. Inferior Feeders. There are so many standards by 

 which feeding cattle might be designated as inferior that it is well 

 to be explicit in specifying the standard employed in the selection 

 of the cattle comprising this grade. It is not that they should be 

 steers carrying a high percentage of dairy blood, although steers in 

 this group are undoubtedly strongly dairy bred. Nor is it that they 

 should be beef-bred steers of faulty conformation and lacking in 

 constitution. An effort is made to select cattle inferior in quality 

 and conformation from the standpoint of beef breeding, that is, 

 those possessing very little, if any, of the blood of any of the improved 

 beef breeds. This is a more difficult task than would seem to those 

 who have not attempted it. The majority of this grade are selected 

 from grass cattle shipped to the Chicago market. They show no evi- 

 dences of beef blood and every evidence of being scrubs. (111. 

 B. 90.) 



BEEF AND BEEF PRODUCTION. 



Demand for Baby Beef. The packers report that they have 

 never been able to supply the demand for baby beef, and that there 

 is no likelihood of the market ever becoming oversupplied, even 

 though stockmen generally should go to producing it. The best 

 demand and the highest prices are in the months of April, May, and 

 June. During these months butchers want light cuts, and they find 

 less waste in baby beef than in that from larger cattle. After July 1 

 the price for baby beef has a tendency to become lower, as light 

 grass-fed cattle compete. The best prices are obtained for well-fat- 

 tened calves weighing from 600 to 1000 pounds. Calves either above 

 or below these weights do not top the market. The age should be 

 from twelve to fourteen months. 



Care in Feeding for Baby Beef. In forcing calves for baby beef, 

 the feeder must remember that the calves are babies and must be 

 treated as such to secure the greatest gains. The feeder who loves 

 them and pets them and never allows a harsh word to be spoken in 

 the feed-lot will get many more pounds of gain from his feed than 

 will the feeder who simply puts an equal amount of feed in the boxes 

 and kicks a calf when it gets in his way. 



The feed should be fresh and palatable at every feeding, and 

 the calves should be fed in such a way as to induce them to eat the 

 greatest possible amount and yet come to the feed-boxes hungry at 

 every feeding. The feeding should be done regularly to the minute. 



