STOCK RAISING AND SOIL FERTILITY 



189 



half of the calves are born males, some 

 of these are sold for veal, a few are kept 

 for breeding purposes and some are 

 grown for beef. There is no great money, 

 in the beef thus produced, since it costs 

 about as much to produce it as it will 

 bring in the market. The aim here is 

 to utilize as much roughage and pasture- 

 age as possible in the growing of the 

 stock and to finally finish off with four 

 to six months' feeding on grain and 

 fodder. 



Range cattle — Much the larger por- 

 tion of the beef cattle produced in the 

 United States is grown on the vast west- 

 ern ranges which extend from Texas 

 northward into Canada. In this region 

 lie thousands of square miles of land 

 fit only for grazing purposes. On this 

 great area cattle may be maintained the 

 year around with little other expense than 

 the cost of herding and shipping to mar- 

 ket. A few years ago, the range cattle 

 were largely represented by the Texas 



Fig. 137 — THE OUTCOME OF THE 



RANGE CATTLE BUSINESS WHEN 



NO ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO 



FEED OR WATER 



steer type, but recently a very large ele- 

 ment of the improved beef breeds has 

 been introduced, until today the western 

 range cattle represent on the average a 

 higher grade of feeders than those pro- 

 duced in the sections east of the Mis- 

 sissippi. 



The herds maintained on these ranges 

 vary from a few hundred to 60,000 in 

 numbers and the size of the ranges from 

 a few thousand to 1,000,000 acres. Meth- 

 ods of ranging have changed greatly 

 within recent years. At the present 

 time the system of managing cattle on 

 the ranges may be briefly described a3 

 follows : 



Each cattle raiser or company, pos- 

 sesses an area of grazing land upon which 

 alfalfa and other forage crops are raised 

 for winter feeding. During the graz- 

 ing season, cattle are left for the most 

 part to their own resources in securing 

 forage, but as a rule are inspected by 

 cowboys about once a month and if 

 found upon poor grass are driven to 

 more desirable locations. The cattle 

 range over wide areas and are rounded 

 up about twice a year. A spring round- 

 up takes place between April and June 

 in different parts of the country. At 

 this round-up the stock is counted and 

 the calves branded. Each calf is given 

 the brand borne by its mother. The 

 brands of each owner are published and 

 are well known. Each owner furnishes 

 a number of cowboys for the general 

 round-up in proportion to the number of 

 cattle he owns. The fall round-up us- 

 ually takes place in September or Octo- 

 ber and is for the purpose of selecting 

 animals suitable for beef. 



The cost of maintaining cattle under 

 these conditions without hay for winter 

 feeding is from $1.50 to $2 a year, 

 while with winter feeding the cost va- 

 ries from $4 to $10 a head. Owing 

 to the gradual withdrawing of the better 

 farming lands along the water courses 

 by settlers and to the increasing atten- 

 tion given to sheep farming, the great 

 cattle range business is gradually de- 

 creasing. The large herds are being 

 broken up, more hay is being grown 

 and more alfalfa feeding done. 



Fattening range cattle — Under 

 range conditions cattle are seldom fat- 

 tened for market. They are kept on the 

 range for one to four or five years and 

 then shipped east to be fattened in the 

 corn belt. In the corn belt, particularly 

 in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas 

 and Missouri, there are a large number 

 of farmers and companies who make a 

 special business of fattening range cat- 

 tle. In addition to this, thousands are 

 sent to the great central markets like 

 Chicago, and reshipped to be fed on 

 farms all over the corn section. The 

 men and companies who form the back- 

 bone of the beef feeding industry are 

 the ones who own and operate farms in 

 connection with their feeding operations 

 and grow a large part of the forage 

 used. 



One of the largest companies of this 

 kind is the Standard Cattle Company 

 of Ames, Nebraska. This company 

 feeds from 1,200 to 7,000 range cattle 



