36 



go in wholly at the mouth, for type is not made by food but by 

 blood or inheritance. Type determines market prices, everything 

 else being equal. 



A good steer must have form, — deep and broad in the twist or 

 thighs, thick through the crops or behind the fore shoulders, broad 

 across the loins, well sprung ribs and straight round barrel. A 

 Jersey or dairy type of steer, with flat ribs, sharp, thin shoulders, 

 thin crooked thighs and narrow loins will not sell within one to 

 three cents as much per pound as the beef type. The one carries 

 a large ratio of high-priced meat, the other of low-priced meat. 

 In the one case a 1,500-pound steer will bring, when rightly fed, 

 $105 to $120 on present markets if perfected. The same weight 

 in the dairy type would not bring more than $90. There is profit 

 in the one and loss in the other. We must command the best or 

 avoid the business. One-half the trouble with beef production 

 east is in wasting good food on poor foundations. The quotations 

 of this week's markets show a range of prices varying 33 per cent, 

 on steers and oxen. All food at present prices put into the poorer 

 steers is put there at a loss, yet this is the type prevalent in New 

 England. 



The west is putting its cheap food into the very best type of 

 modern beef producing machines ; we, high-priced food into the 

 poorest. 



Early Maturity. 



Early maturity is the one factor of supreme importance in beef 

 production, and our weakest one. Profit making from four and 

 five year old steers has gone into oblivion with the post auger and 

 hand reaper. It is only known where beef making is in great de- 

 crepitude or where food is practically free. The only beef that 

 we can hope to make is baby beef. Thirty months should be old 

 age for steers in the east and at twenty to twenty-four months 

 they should be in their prime. 



The pliilosophy of young beef is obvious. It requires about 16 

 pounds of food to maintain the existence of a 1,000-pound steer 

 without growth. Unless more is given all is thrown away. If 17 

 pounds is fed, or one pound more than maintenance, growth occurs, 

 and G^ per cent of the food given is productive. If 18 pounds, 

 or 2 pounds excess food, is fed, then 12^ per cent of the total 

 ration is productive force. The addition of the second pound of 

 food adds 100 per cent to the efficiency of tlie first 17 pounds. If 

 30 pounds is given and eaten, as it may be, then 14 pounds excess 

 food over the food of existence is taken, and 53 J per cent of the 

 food given is directed to the processes of growth. No folly is 



