SHORT FED STEERS 

 A COMPARISON OF METHODS OF FEEDING 



BY HERBERT W. MUMFORD, CHIEF IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, AND 

 H. O. ALLISON, ASSISTANT IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



INTRODUCTION 



Among common methods of beef production there is recognized 

 the practice of short feeding or "warming up" of cattle. This process 

 usually requires from 60 to 100 days and the cattle are generally mar- 

 keted in a half fat or unfinished condition. In this, as in most enter- 

 prises of this sort, the variations of common practice are wide. These 

 variations are in the grade and condition of cattle selected for feeding, 

 the methods of handling, and the rations used. Some feeders, for 

 instance, select heavy fleshy cattle of the better grades while others 

 select cattle thin in flesh, but generally mature, and of the lower 

 grades. 'Then too, the variations in the methods of handling the cat- 

 tle are wide, the chief difference being in the policy of forcing rapid 

 and large gains by the use of a rather expensive ration as compared 

 with that of smaller gains by the use of limited quantities of feed or 

 less expensive feeds. 



The factors surrounding and the possibilities of short feeding are 

 considerably different from those of long feeding where the cattle are 

 fed for six months or longer and generally marketed in finished condi- 

 tion. It is not intended, however, at this time to compare the practice 

 of short feeding with that of finishing beef cattle. We introduced this 

 work rather to study the methods and possibilities of short feeding. 

 To do this, a test was conducted with two carloads of cattle under 

 conditions comparable to those existing in Illinois. In this work the 

 relative merits of two different methods of feeding were studied and 

 other available data were collected thus supplying a basis upon which 

 the business of short feeding cattle may be judged. 



CONDITIONS OF THE EXPERIMENT 



The steers used in the experiment were purchased on the Chicago- 

 market August 22, 1905. They consisted of thirty-four head of good 

 to choice, fleshy, three-year-old feeders. All were dehorned and the 

 average weight was 1,073 pounds in Chicago. They were natives and 

 northwest rangers mixed, but all were undoubtedly strictly grass cat- 

 tle. Upon arrival at the experimental farm, they were divided into 



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