GROWING BABY BEEF 85 



cob and husk being ground together, there would be less 

 necessity for the addition of so bulky a food as bran or 

 oats, and the additional protein could be furnished in the 

 form of cottonseed meal or oil meal. 



When on pasture, corn may furnish the principal grain 

 fed, especially should the pasture be clover. If simply 

 grass pasture, some protein food such as bran or oil meal 

 should be added to the extent of probably lo per cent 

 of the one and 5 per cent of the other. If peas can be 

 substituted for corn in all of the above mixtures, the 

 gains will be quite as pronounced, providing less pro- 

 tein is furnished in the complements added to the peas. 



Amount of concentrates to feed. — Since growing 

 baby beef is virtually a forcing process, concentrates 

 must be freely fed from the start to the finish. When 

 suitable in kind and suitably fed, the young animals may 

 be given, during much of the period, that amount of 

 concentrates that they will eat with a relish. 



During the milk period, or at least during, say, the 

 first three months of it, the calves may be allowed to eat 

 concentrates at will. If properly blended, as when the 

 standard ration given on page 21 is fed, they will not 

 eat to excess. This will hold good whether the grain 

 is ground or unground. But it is not a good plan to 

 keep concentrates in a feed box accessible to calves in 

 quantities much in excess of their needs. They soon 

 become more or less moistened with escaping saliva, 

 and their palatability is further lessened from the breath 

 of the calves, hence it is not a good plan to feed much 

 if, indeed, any in excess of what the calves will eat up 

 clean at any time. Scrupulous attention should be given 

 at all times to the cleanliness of the feed boxes. 



When the calves are to be sold under one year 

 subsequent to the milk period, the feeding may be close 

 up to the limit of consumption by the calves. The ap- 

 petite will be more keen if the calves are given only 

 what they will eat with a relish. If allowed to eat all 



