220 How THE FARM PAYS. 



CATTLE BARNS. 



The business of stall feeding cattle will, I am confident, greatly increase 

 east of the great grazing plains during the coming years, along with 

 dairying. In this respect we must follow the course of the English, 

 Scotch and European farmers. Grain will be grown in the rich 

 North-western Territories and in California, where land is cheap, 

 and mixed farming is not suitable on account of the climate. 

 Grain cannot be grown to pay in the East and by East I mean all 

 the States east of the Missouri River unless stock is stall fed to make 

 manure. Rich feeding stuffs, as oil-cakes, bran from the great 

 "Western mills, and corn from the prairie States, which can be bought 

 more cheaply than it can be raised, must take the place of farm 

 grown coarse grain; and fodder crops and roots will be produced in 

 abundance for the cattle. A farm of 100 acres will have its feeding 

 sheds where from twenty to fifty head of beeves or 200 or 300 sheep 

 will be fattened every winter, and larger farms will feed more in pro- 

 portion. I do not see how this can be helped. Calves that are now 

 "butchered or sold for a few dollars, and lean cattle from the West, will be 

 bought up for feeding. The land can be made rich enough for profitable 

 farming only in this way and by dairying, and every farm cannot be 

 a dairy, because there is a limit to the demand of butter and cheese, 

 and the great cities and foreign countries must have beef and mutton. 



In this case properly arranged barns for feeding must be provided. 

 3Jabor must be reduced to a minimum or the profit will be small, and 

 labor is reduced by convenient arrangements for feeding. 



One man is able to feed and care for fifty head of cattle when every- 

 thing is well arranged with suitable buildings. This will cost about 

 two cents a day for attention and care, which is about as cheap as I 

 think it can be done. If the cattle are fed for four months, and 250 

 pounds only is added to the weight of each in that time, the cost for 

 labor will be less than one cent per pound of this increase. The 

 great profit in feeding cattle, however, is not in this increased weight, 

 but in the increased value of the whole animal from its better quality. 

 A fat steer caii be easily made worth one cent a pound of live weight 

 more than its cost when it was thin; thus a 1,600-pound animal will 

 have at least $16 added to its value in this way, in addition to the 

 value of the added weight. Those farmers who do not understand 

 this fact lose sight of the most important part of the business. 



A cattle shed should be roomy, both to give the animals plenty of 

 fresh air, and to afford convenience in feeding them and removing 

 the manure. The pens should be made in ranges having a feeding 

 passage large enough for a cart to be taken through with roots, hay, 



