CHAPTER XXIII 



FEEDING ANIMALS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MEAT 



THE production of beef was at one time a source 

 of income to nearly all farms. In earlier days the New 

 England farmer annually sent to the market a few fat 

 steers or oxen. At the present time the beef consumed 

 in the United States and that exported comes very 

 largely from the wide grazing areas of the west, where 

 the cost of feed and the necessary amount of labor 

 are at a minimum. The reasons for this change are 

 not hard to find. The food cost of beef -making is 

 relatively large as compared with dairy products, and 

 in the east the growth of home markets for milk and 

 cream has made it possible for farmers to turn their 

 high cost feeding stuff into products having a higher 

 proportionate market price than beef. Moreover, cer- 

 tain eastern lands have, with enlarging markets, been 

 occupied to good advantage with fruit and vegetables. 

 Doubtless the time will come, after the wide areas of 

 the west are more densely peopled, when beef produc- 

 tion will receive more attention in the eastern states. 

 Some farmers find it profitable there even now. It is 

 certain that it involves good judgment, skill and the 

 art of feeding to the highest degree, especially if it 

 is to secure fair returns against western competition, 



