Counsel in the Feed Lot. 369 



Waters strongly recommends separate clover or alfalfa pastures 

 accessible to hogs following fattening steers in summer; on this the 

 hogs can graze at will after having cleaned up the waste from the 

 cattle, instead of feeding on the steer pasture. He further recom- 

 mends providing a field of cowpeas or soybeans on which the hogs 

 may forage early in fall and so have this nitrogenous grain together 

 with the corn they pick up from the steers. Any extra grain fed 

 should be given to the hogs before the cattle are fed so that the hogs 

 will not crowd around the feed troughs or under the wagon and 

 team. In the best practice the hogs are fed in a near-by pen to keep 

 them from the cattle while the latter are feeding. Whenever hogs 

 begin to show maturity or fatness they should be supplanted by fresh 

 ones, for fat hogs are unprofitable for following steers. The best hog 

 for following cattle is of good bone, thin in flesh, weighing from 100 

 to 150 lbs. If shotes are used they should weigh 50-60 lbs. Sows 

 in pig or young pigs should never be put in the feed lot. 



Because of the narrow margin made in these times from fattening 

 cattle on grain Waters recommends that where it is impossible to 

 provide hogs to follows the steers the fattening of the steers be de- 

 layed until hogs can follow or be given up entirely. This advice 

 does not apply to feeding weanling calves for baby beef because 

 then the grain should be ground and fed with alfalfa, clover, cowpea 

 hay, etc., in which case the animals utilize their feed so much more 

 closely that hogs are not absolutely necessary. (506, 525) 



577. Baby beef. — The following is condensed from Mumford:'^ 



Profitable baby beef production requires experience, judgment, 

 and skill of the highest order in the feeder. It is a mistake for the 

 inexperienced to dip heavily into this art. To fatten young animals 

 profitably, they must be good, they must be fed for a considerable 

 time, and they must be made fat; this means that "tops" must be 

 bought or bred. The most successful operators try to retain the 

 "calf fat" or bloom of the young calf. The calf should be in good 

 condition when fattening begins and should be induced to consume 

 considerable roughage of high quality, such as clover or alfalfa hay 

 and silage, during winter and rich pasture grasses in summer. Shelled, 

 crushed, or sliced corn should be fed together with linseed meal, cot- 

 ton-seed meal, or other protein-rich concentrates. If the com is given 

 whole, hogs may profitably follow. Oats are one of the best of feeds 

 with which to start the calf on its way to fattening. The tendency 

 of the calf and yearling is toward growth rather than fattening. In 



^ Beef Production, pp. 76-82. 



