FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 271 



of the year, at about 18 months old, when they should weigh about 

 1100 pounds. 103 



Calves raised on skim milk and grain are also sometimes fed 

 for baby beef, but this requires special skill and experience because 

 of the difficulty of keeping calves steadily gaining by this sys- 

 tem, as well as of selecting the kind of calves that will have the 

 capacity for feed and individual quality necessary to make the 

 desired rapid gains under these conditions. Inexperienced feeders 

 are not likely to make a success of finishing skim-milk calves as 

 baby beeves, as it takes still more expert knowledge than the pro- 

 duction of baby beef from calves raised on whole milk. 



Yearlings are cattle 18 to 23 months old. The fattening of 

 yearlings represents a less extreme system of fattening than baby 

 beef, but is ahead of feeding older cattle in that quicker and larger 

 returns are obtained than in the case of these ; it has the advantage 

 oyer feeding calves for baby beef in that more of a gain is made on 

 grass or rough feeds, and it requires less grain to reach the final 

 weight. This method is especially adapted for farmers, who have 

 an abundance of good summer pasture. Calves generally receive 

 little or no grain before they are weaned from the pail or the cow, 

 as the case may be. They are furnished abundant pasture for the 

 fall months, and during the winter all the good hay they will eat, 

 with a small allowance, of grain. They depend on pasture only 

 during the following summer, and are given a full feed of grain 

 the next fall and winter; they will be likely to consume, on the 

 average, about 16 to 18 pounds of corn or its equivalent daily at this 

 time, in addition to hay or fodder corn planted thick ; a daily feed 

 of alfalfa, clover, or other legume hay will furnish a variety and 

 produce good results. The grain may be corn alone or equal weights 

 of corn or wheat bran; if no legume hay is available, a pound of 

 linseed meal should be fed with corn and bran. One pig is kept 

 in the feed lot for each steer to consume the corn in the droppings. 

 By this method of feeding the steers will be in good condition 

 for marketing in the spring, when they will weigh 1100 to 1200 

 pounds at 23 months old and be likely to command a good price. 



Two-year-olds. — The system of marketing two-year-olds (Fig. 



19a Baby-beef contests for boys and girls of high-school age have been 

 conducted in many states during late years, and bid fair to assume 

 similar importance as the pig-club contests and similar efforts in the line 

 of educating the boy or girl on the farm to an appreciation of good live 

 stock and of the value of modern methods of feeding and handling stock. 

 See Breeders' Gaz. 1916, p. 560; U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1917, p. 335; 

 Farmers' Bui. 385. 



