214 FARM MANAGEMENT 



over winter. The usual practice is to use straw, corn 

 stalks, and cheap hay together with a very limited amount 

 of grain so that the animals are usually very thin in the 

 spring. If the summer feed is abundant, such animals 

 promptly recover and usually catch up with those that 

 were fully fed all winter. Young stock that is being thus 

 " roughed through " the winter grows, even though it is 

 getting poor. It is growing bones or frame on which to 

 put the muscle and fat when grass comes. This method 

 of feeding must not be confused with never feeding animals 

 enough. With it there is always an abundance of feed. 

 But the winter feed is cheap feed on which an animal 

 loses flesh but grows bone. Young stock may get very 

 poor when fed on straw and corn stalks, but it does not 

 starve. It gets plenty of bone-making material and grows 

 bones while it is getting poor. To conduct the system 

 successfully there should be an abundance of pasture. 



Experiments in beef production at the Missouri and 

 Kansas Experiment stations have strikingly verified the 

 farmer's experience in raising young stock by such methods. 

 Comparatively little grain is needed except to finish the 

 animal for market. When the animal is producing milk 

 or is being fattened, it usually pays to feed grain liberally. 



In years when grain is cheap more of it may be fed. In 

 years when it is high, practically none is fed to young 

 stock that is being thus carried over winter. 



One who is raising high-priced pure-bred stock will of 

 course feed more at all times. The method described 

 above is very different from that of the farmer mentioned 

 on page 229 who uses $169 worth of feed in raising a 

 heifer to 30 months old. He probably hopes that the 

 heifer will be worth $500. Each method is the proper 

 one for the kind of stock and other conditions. 



