TEE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



381 



feeders give eggs and add small quan- 

 tities of meal to the milk, but those 

 who have a reputation for producing 

 fancy veal object to such practice, claim- 

 ing that meal and eggs tend to darken 

 the meat of the veal. 



In Holland, a still more artificial 

 method of forcing veal is in favor. 

 Calves are kept in pens so narrow that 

 they cannot turn around, and therefore 

 cannot take any exercise. The pens are 

 kept in total darkness, only being light- 

 ed up slightly when the calf is fed. The 

 Dutch feeders also keep a piece of chalk 

 hanging where the calf can readily 

 lick it. 



Baby beef — Recently an increasing 

 interest has been shown in the produc- 

 tion of baby beef, and it is therefore 

 necessary to discuss the methods by 

 which baby beef is fitted for market and 

 the economy of this system. 



Under certain circumstances, especially 

 where dairying is combined with beef 

 production, there is a great advantage 

 to be secured in inducing beef animals 

 to mature early. The problem of the 

 production of baby beef has received 

 much attention from expert feeders in 

 Iowa,. Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Ne- 

 braska, New Hampshire, Utah, Wiscon- 

 sin, Colorado, Canada and elsewhere. 

 The various agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions have taken an active part in 

 investigating this matter and have con- 

 tributed largely to a clearer understand- 

 ing of the economy of early maturity 

 and the method of producing this result. 



Points in favor of baby beef produc- 

 tion — The production of baby beef is 

 good economy for the reason that the 

 amount of feed required for a given 

 gain is less in young than in old ani- 

 mals, and this fact makes it highly 

 desirable to begin forcing animals from 

 the start. In the above discussion of 

 calf feeding, it is assumed that a large 

 percentage of the calves thus treated 

 are to be forced to an early maturity. 

 In this process scrubs do not mature so 

 early as well-bred cattle, and, therefore, 

 only the latter should be chosen for the 

 production of baby beef. In practice, 

 the Herefords A Shorthorns, Angus and 

 grades of these breeds are most used in 

 producing baby beef. 



The raising of baby beef is a some- 

 what difficult and complicated specialty 

 which has grown up within recent years 

 and considerable skill is necessary in 



securing the right condition of the ani- 

 mals. All animals in order to be entered 

 in this class must be of prime or choice 

 quality. Since, however, it is neces- 

 sary to reduce the cost of beef produc- 

 tion as much as possible, a larger num- 

 ber of feeders are annually going into 

 the business of producing baby beef. 

 Obviously, the sooner the animal can be 

 brought to a market condition, the 

 greater the profit. Not only are gains 

 made more rapidly in young than in old 

 animals, but the amount of feed re- 

 quired for a pound of gain is also less. 

 The quality of the meat is superior, the 

 market demand is somewhat more ac- 

 tive, the price a little more fancy and 

 the money invested is turned over at 

 shorter intervals. In fact, many beef 

 raisers have come to the conclusion that 

 with increasing prices for feeds, labor 

 and land, early maturity offers the only 

 solution of a profitable system ' of beef 

 production. The tendency of feeders 

 toward obtaining an early maturity in 

 cattle has been manifested for many 

 years. At first, the market age was 

 lowered to three years, after which we 

 began to find that the best beef breeds 

 are fully mature at 30 months and that 

 animals may be found in an excellent 

 market condition for baby beef at the 

 age of one to two years. The men who 

 first engaged in this line of beef pro- 

 duction as a venture, soon found that 

 as they lowered the market age, they 

 added greatly to their profits and many 

 others followed their example. A fa- 

 mous English feeder found that Short- 

 horns could be forced so as to produce 

 from $6.50 to $8 worth of meat a month 

 up to the age of a year and a half. 

 When sold in the form of baby beef, 

 it was found by this feeder that the 

 animal cost for work and feed $1.51 a 

 week. At first it was supposed that the 

 quality of young beef must be inferior 

 to that of older animals. It was soon 

 found, however, that quality depends 

 upon the method of feeding and that 

 baby beef need not be a poor article. 



Perhaps the best plan for securing 

 early maturity is to have the calves come 

 in the fall. They may then be fed on 

 a skim milk and grain ration until the 

 pastures turn green in the spring, when 

 they should be put upon pasture and the 

 grain ration continued. As soon as the 

 pasture gets short in the fall, the calves 

 should be put in a feed lot and forced 

 on hay and grain to the age of 16 to 



