TEE BEEF CATTLE INDUSTRY 



411 



better care of cattle, better pasture, bet- 

 ter shelter, and extermination of flies 

 and lice are also mentioned as important 

 factors. A significant fact which ap- 

 pears in the belief of beef producers, as 

 well as packing house men, is that the 

 necessity of the use of better blood in 

 beef herds is being more and more gen- 

 erally recognized. The use of better 

 animals and the more rational use of 

 feeding stuffs are the two main lines 

 along which the beef producer must 

 work in order to increase his profits. 

 These facts are being recognized not only 

 in the corn belt, where for years the 

 finest quality of beef has been produced, 

 but also in the south, where lately the 

 character of beef herds is being consid- 

 erably improved. Thus, Duggar, in 

 Alabama, considers that the essentials to 

 the highest profit in beef production in 

 that state are the use of better bred bulls 

 of beef breeds ; the employment of better 

 trained men as feeders, the production 

 of cowpeas, sorghum and other well 

 known farm feeds and the improvement 

 of pastures. 



Shelter—On the point of shelter, the 

 opinions of different men are widely 

 apart; some believe that during the fat- 

 tening period, if this operation is car- 

 ried on in winter, steers are particularly 

 susceptible to the influence of cold 

 weather, and, therefore, should be pro- 

 tected against exposure to cold; while 

 others take the opposite view, that the 

 best results are obtained only when 

 steers are allowed to live under natural 

 conditions, including exposure to the 

 cold weather of winter. The results of 

 numerous experiments undertaken to 

 obtain evidence on this controversy are 

 not all uniform in their tendency, but 

 recently the preponderance of evidence 

 is in favor of allowing the steers con- 

 siderable freedom in yards and not pam- 

 pering them unnecessarily. In Scot- 

 land, certain feeders have found that 

 cold weather retards the growth of 

 young cattle, and therefore recommend 

 that the barns be heated in February. 

 In Illinois, this matter has been thor- 

 oughly studied by Mumford. When the 

 ground of feeding yards is dry and 

 open sheds furnished under which the 

 cattle can take refuge from severe winds 

 and rain storms, the best possible con- 

 ditions are secured for the production of 

 beef. The chief protection which cat- 

 tle seem to need in winter may be se- 

 cured in the form of cheap sheds or 

 Windbreaks. 



In one experiment in Minnesota, Shaw 

 found that steers fed in a shed, as com- 

 pared with others fed inside, consumed 

 about 2 pounds more food a day, at an 

 increased cost of 1.7 cents, but made a 

 greater gain and a higher net profit of 

 1.72 cents during a feeding period of 

 140 days. 



In a series of feeding operations car- 

 ried on by Burnett in Nebraska, it ap- 

 peared that the largest gains were cheap- 

 est, and that all strikingly large gains 

 were made in steers fed in box stalls 

 in a shed. During a feeding period of 

 the ordinary length, the average gain of 

 some of the steers fed in a shed was 444 

 pounds, as compared with 350 pounds 

 each, as the average for the whole lot. 

 The steers kept in open sheds gained 

 somewhat less than those in box stalls. 



At the Pennsylvania experiment sta- 

 tion, Mairs and others carried on a se- 

 ries of tests extending over a period of 

 three years. The plan of these experi- 

 ments was to compare feeding in a large 

 pen or box stall in a basement, with 

 feeding in a yard adjoining a barn, with 

 an open shed for protection. During 

 the feeding period the temperature 

 ranged from 4 to 11° below zero F. Dur- 

 ing the first two years the results were 

 not so much in favor of open yard 

 feeding as in the third test. On the 

 whole, however, the actual amount of 

 food eaten* by steers outside was less 

 than that required by those kept inside. 

 The gains made by steers in process 

 of fattening were not increased by warm 

 quarters, and it appears, therefore, that 

 it is impossible to have stables too cold 

 for fattening steers in the climate of 

 Pennsylvania, provided the steers are 

 kept dry and well bedded. It is a com- 

 paratively simple matter to prevent out- 

 door yards from becoming muddy by 

 the use of soft coal cinders, gravel, 

 drainage, and, if necessary, by paving. 

 A shed in a well-drained yard, covered 

 with the proper surface material, can be 

 kept practically as dry as the interior 

 of a barn, provided enough bedding is 

 used and the manure is removed at fre- 

 quent intervals. If, on account of the 

 nature of the soil or the slope of the 

 land, any difficulty is experienced in 

 keeping the yard dry, it is essential that 

 it be paved, or otherwise treated so as to 

 prevent it from becoming muddy. 



In Canadian experience, steers have 

 made much better gains loose in the 

 yards than in barns. If, however, steers 



