4 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



tendency in the milk flow is to lessen with increasing dry- 

 ness in the autumn pastures, and when the cows are housed 

 and given food that is even less succulent, which is fre- 

 quently the case, the milk flow is still further lessened. It 

 is doubtless true, therefore, that the average cow that 

 freshens in the autumn will give more milk during the 

 entire period of lactation than she would give if she came 

 into milk in the spring. 



(6) Autumn calves are ready for market, all things 

 considered, at a more suitable age than spring calves, 

 when grown into finished beef. Cattle, grown for meat 

 on arable farms and finished on the same, are now usually 

 sold at an age not exceeding three years and not less than 

 two years. Though sometimes finished at an age younger 

 than two years, it is at least questionable if the greatest 

 profit results from selling them so young and consequently 

 so far short of possible development. When dropped in 

 the autumn and well cared for all the while, they will be 

 well matured at the age of 30 to 33 months. This would 

 bring them into the market sometime between the months 

 of March and August, a season when meat is relatively 

 high. They could be sold from the stall or pasture as 

 desired. To market animals dropped in the spring at a 

 corresponding age would involve selling them when six 

 months older or as many months younger. At the former 

 age, they would not be so well grown ; at the latter, the 

 relative cost of growing them would be enhanced. 



(7) Under some conditions, however, it is not prac- 

 ticable to have calves come in the autumn. Such are range 

 conditions, where the winters are characterized by low tem- 

 perature. To have calves come in the autumn under such 

 conditions would involve the risk of losing 1)oth the cow 

 and her progeny. It would also be injudicious to have 

 calves come in the autumn under the extensive conditions 

 sometimes found on large farms which necessitates giving 

 the cows a diet consisting of dry fodder only during all 



