CATTLE FEEDING CONDITIONS IN THE 

 CORN BELT 



BY HERBERT W. MUMFORD, Chief in Animal Husbandry, and 

 Louis D. HALL, Assistant Chief in Animal Husbandry 



Seven "corn-surplus states" Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 

 Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska embrace the great corn-pro- 

 ducing area and constitute the natural center of beef production 

 in the United States. As shown in Circular No. 169, about one- 

 third of the cattle of the country other than milch cows are con- 

 tained in the states mentioned, and their value is equal to about 

 two-fifths of the total value of such cattle in the United States. 

 Furthermore, large numbers of cattle are shipped into these states 

 to be fattened and forwarded to market, and are not included in' 

 the estimates of annual cattle population. Corn-fed cattle are the 

 distinctive feature of the cattle industry of the United States, and 

 this circular deals primarily with problems and methods of cattle 

 feeding in the corn belt. It is therefore proper to consider some- 

 what fully the trend of general conditions surrounding the indus- 

 try in that section and the fundamental economic factors that 

 affect it. 



RAPID EVOLUTION OP THE CATTLE FEEDING INDUSTRY 



During the period of settlement and the earlier years of cul- 

 tivation of corn-belt lands a period extending from the fifties 

 to the nineties inclusive, of the last century, these lands gen- 

 erally were stocked with cows of beef type ; and while the coun- 

 try was being brought into cultivation, they became a combined 

 breeding, grazing, and fattening ground for cattle. Such local- 

 ities were admirably suited to beef production because of the 

 abundance of cheap grass and cheap corn they afforded. A most 

 vivid and concise illustration of cattle-feeding conditions and 

 methods in Illinois about 1880 is contained in the following 

 statement quoted from one of the most widely known stockmen 

 of that day, Mr. John D. Gillette r 1 



i Feeds and Feeding, W. A. Henry, 1st ed., p. 389. 



