32 BULLETIN 582, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
two trips with salt in a summer, a day being needed for each 
trip. They give each head from 3 to 4 pounds of salt during the 
range season, or half to two-thirds as much as the animals are 
reckoned to need. 
Most of the range cattle marketed each year are sold directly 
from the range or after a short time on pasture in the irrigated 
bottoms. As the animals come out of the mountains they are put 
on fall pasture until enough fat stock is on hand to sell. Those 
to be sold, of course, are given the best pasture if there is any pref- 
erence. Alfalfa or beet tops or a combination of these two is pre- 
ferred for such stock. Many men hire alfalfa pasture for $2 per 
acre, beet tops for $1, or the two for $1.50 per acre. Some men rake 
and haul the beet tops and feed them on sod land, though this is not 
usual. Most stockmen are of the opinion that the animals are better 
able to gather their own feed. A 38-year-old steer on full beet-top 
feed eats from 135 to 175 pounds a day and wastes 30 to 50 pounds. 
A 20-ton beet crop leaves 8 to 10 tons of tops and crowns on the 
ground, and an acre is reckoned to carry three 3-year-old steers for 
about a month. Beet tops to steers for fall sale makes them very 
fine and sleek, especially if they are grazed on alfalfa. The farmer, 
if he hauls the tops, aims to give 40 to 60 pounds per head per day. 
They are an especially good feed for cows to be turned off in the 
fall, and considering their food value they are priced at a figure _ 
“hth seems ridiculously low. Dry-land grain stubble is often 
rented for fall pasture for 50 cents per nee, and irrigated grain 
stubble for $1 per acre. 
The fall price for fat stock is usually at the rate of 6 to 6.5 cents 
per pound, though most animals are sold by the head, a practice 
which should be abandoned. Steers with an extra good finish com- 
mand 7 cents at times. Stock sold fat in the spring usually brings 
6.5 to 7 cents unless the market is below normal. The bulk of the 
cattle from northern Utah are shipped to the coast, while those 
from the southern part of the State are sent east to Omaha or 
Kansas City. The best time to market stock is stated to be in June, 
but this necessitates heavier winter feeding than most farmers care 
to give. When this is done, the animals are put on good early 
range until June, if such range is available. There are a few farm- 
ers who make a practice of feeding heavily through the winter for 
spring sale, and at a,number of places large numbers are so fed on 
beet pulp and alfalfa hay, but not as a farm activity. Men with 
more feed than they need often buy up yearlings and 2-year-olds 
for winter feeding and. sale as range feeders in the spring if they 
can not get the necessary range themselves. Some men make this 
phase of the business something of a speculation. 
