296 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



during the first 60 to 70 days, or else clover hay, corn silage, and 2,5 

 lbs. of cottonseed meal per 1,000 lbs. live weight in addition to balance 

 the ration, and were then finished on the same feeds with all the corn 

 they would eat. Another lot was fed an unlimited allowance of corn 

 from the first. Tho the steers in the first lot made slightly cheaper 

 gains, they returned less profit than those fed all the corn they 

 would eat. On the other hand, in trials at the Pennsylvania ^ and 

 Iowa* Stations, limiting the allowance of concentrates during the 

 first of the fattening period returned larger profits. In former years 

 steers were commonly finished on all the corn or other concentrates 

 they would eat, but now with concentrates far higher in price it is 

 often more profitable to restrict the allowance, even during the 

 last of the fattening period. The amount of concentrates to be fed 

 should be governed by the relative price of concentrates and rough- 

 ages, and by the time it is desired to have the cattle ready for market. 

 In some sections of the West where alfalfa hay is abundant and the 

 market does not pay a higher price for well-finished animals than for 

 those in fair flesh, fattening cattle are fed alfalfa hay alone or alfalfa 

 hay and other roughages with little or no grain. Tho steers can not be 

 made really fat by this method, it results in the greatest profit to 

 the feeder. 



Value of breed in beef making, — Experience teaches that "blood 

 tells" in beef production, but the reasons commonly given for the 

 superiority of beef-bred animals are not all valid. Occasionally, the 

 claim is yet made that well-bred beef cattle eat less than scrubs. 

 Feeding trials have shown instead that they are heartier eaters, for 

 they have greater ability to digest feed and economically convert it 

 into meat, and consequently make more rapid gains than scrubs. 

 Dairy-bred steers, especially those of the larger breeds, may make 

 as large gains as beef-bred steers. This is reasonable, for in de- 

 veloping both beef and dairy breeds one of the chief objects has been 

 to secure animals with large capacity for utilizing feed. In this the 

 scrub is apt to be lacking. Feeding trials have failed to show that on 

 the average beef -bred steers require less feed for 100 lbs. of gain than 

 healthy, vigorous animals which lack beef type and breeding. 



Experienced feeders know that beef -bred steers "mature" or be- 

 come well fattened earlier than others. Indeed, only blocky calves 

 of beef conformation are suited for early fattening as baby beef. 

 Tho dairy steers grow rapidly, they do not become well finished at 

 an early age. Other important points of superiority for beef-bred 



3 Cocliel, Penn. Bui. 118; and Tomhave and Severson, information to the 

 authors. 



4 Pew, Evvard, and Dunn, Breeder's Gaz., 69, 1916, p. 1290. 



