BULLETIN 1024, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



David Tuckwiller, in Greenbrier County, W. Va., to study beef-pro- 

 duction problems in the Appalachian Mountain region. This farm is 

 located in the southeastern part of the State in the bluegrass area. 

 The results of this experiment apply not only to West Virginia, but 

 also to the adjacent States having similar conditions, as shown in the 

 outline map (fig. 1) . Some of the methods are so generally applicable 

 that the results may be utilized to advantage by cattle raisers in other 

 parts of the country. 



THE REGION AND ITS PROBLEMS. 



The topography in most parts of the region, except in the vicinity 

 of streams, is gently rolling or even mountainous in the higher eleva- 

 tions. The area is generally 

 cleared of forest trees, although 

 vast areas of cut-over or stump 

 land are found. The farms vary 

 in size from less than 100 acres to 

 more than 1,000 acres. The land 

 is especially well adapted for 

 grazing, and in most sections there 

 is tillable land for the production 

 of abundant crops for winter feed 

 or other purposes. 



In this general area are produced 

 a large percentage of the grass- 

 finished cattle which go annually 

 to eastern markets. The fact that 

 most of the steers produced in this 

 area are finished for market on 

 grass alone attests the value of the 

 pastures, which consist largely of 

 bluegrass. The use of grain for 

 finishing cattle is not general, 

 although the practice is followed in some sections, particularly in the 

 valleys of the larger streams. 



As a rule most grazers and feeders of beef steers do not raise calves 

 to supply their needs for stockers. One of their chief problems, there- 

 fore, is to obtain calves, yearling steers, or 2-year-old steers of suit- 

 able beef type to use their feed to the best advantage. Many farmers 

 keep only a small number of cows to produce milk and butter for 

 their families. Some of them keep good beef cows, breed them to 

 good bulls, and raise good calves by giving them a large part of the 

 cows' milk. Others keep cows of the dairy type or of mixed dairy 

 breeding, and breed them to either nondescript or dairy bulls. Calves 







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Fig. J .• — Region to which this work ap- 

 plies. The black dot indicates the loca- 

 tion of the farm on which the experi- 

 ment was conducted. The shaded portion 

 represents the area to which the results 

 are applicable, and the dotted portion 

 shows an additional area to which the 

 results apply in part. 



