FARM MANAGEMENT IN THE PROVO AREA, 838 
WINTER FEEDING OF STOCK CATTLE. 
FEED REQUIREMENTS. 
The winter feeding season ordinarily lasts from 4 to 5.5 months, 
but sometimes 6 months, depending on the locality and the weather. 
Stock cattle are given free run of the fields all winter by virtually 
all farmers. As a rule, only the calves are given an appreciable 
amount of shelter. Generally they are put in a field or yard by 
themselves, usually with a shed more or less inclosed and are more 
carefully looked after than older animals. Most men find that it 
does not pay to permit the calves to get stunted through neglect 
during the first winter, and special attention is given them to secure 
more growthy stock for sale the second or third year. Very often the 
calves are fed on alfalfa hay, from five-eighths to three-fourths of a 
ton per head, depending on the severity of the winter and the length 
of the feeding season. The operators find that this pays. Others feed 
them the finer wild, or slough hay, but they do not get as good re- 
sults. In the northern part of the State the full winter feed is not 
usually given until the first of December’or the latter part of No- 
vember. A couple of loads of wild hay are fed per week to each 80 
to 100 head for 2 or 3 weeks previously while the stock is picking up 
most of their feed in the open fields. As one goes southward the full 
feeding period is delayed, until in the vicinity of Provo it does not 
begin until about the middle of December. 
With a feeding period of 5 to 5.5 months (and not many farmers 
in northern Utah have to give full feed for more than 5.5 months 
except in occasional winters) a man calculates to feed about 1.25 
tons of wild hay to the yearlings, not quite 1.5 tons to the 2-year-olds, 
and 1.5, or a little more, to the stock cows and any backward 3-year- 
olds which may have been kept over. In severe winters when the 
weather stays crisp and cold for the greater part of the time, the 
above amounts are exceeded somewhat. In addition to the hay the 
stock is fed all the straw they will eat. Most feeders lump the year- 
lings and 2-year-olds with the older animals and reckon on 1 to 1.5 
tons of wild hay per head in the herd when they have a season of 5 
to 5.5 months full feed. The amount actually fed varies with the 
supply on hand, the proportion of yearlings to older animals, and 
the season. In sloppy weather the stock does not eat as freely as 
when it is cold and crisp. The aim is to feed no more than the ani- 
mals will clean up, but to keep them growing. 
When plenty of warm water is handy a man can winter his cattle 
with very little hay, and they can be brought through to spring in 
fair condition, but this management is not favored if it can be © 
avoided. A ton of barley straw, if not too coarse, or the same 
amount of wheat straw, is reckoned to be equal to about a third or 
