Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



109 



grazing in the fall, carrying them through the winter on cheap feeds. 

 Cattle feeders in Missouri who practice grain feeding on pasture usually 

 buy their cattle in the fall, and winter them preparatory to finishing 

 them during the following summer. 



Sources of profit in cattle feeding.-^Profits in cattle feeding come 

 from skill in feeding and management, and also from intelligent buying 

 and selling. There is practiced what is known as "speculative cattle 

 feeding" in which feeders emphasize the buying and selling more than 

 they do the actual feeding of the animals, the object bein^g to buy on 

 a low market and sell when the market is high. Omitting this specula- 

 tive feature from consideration, it may be said that the sources of profit 

 in feeding a steer are (1) the increase in weight of the animal, and (2) 



Fig. 27. — Fancy selected feeders. These are very good in form, quality, 

 breeding, uniformity, and other essential points, except that dehorning would have 

 made them more desirable for feeding. 



the increase in the value of the animal's initial weight. ' For example, 

 if we buy a thin steer at 8 cents per pound, and fatten him during four 

 or six months feeding, we increase not only his weight, but also his 

 value per pound. If the initial weight was 1,000 pounds, and the final 

 weight was 1,325 pounds, he should sell at 10 cents per pound without 

 any rise of the cattle market during the feeding period. Then the net 

 income to the feeder would be as follows: 



iFor the purposes of this discussion, the value of the pork produced by hogs 

 following cattle in the feed-lot and the value of the manure are omitted from con- 

 sideration. 



