l62 THE MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF CATTLE 



altogether measured by the increase made, as the ripen- 

 ing process which will command a better price may go 

 on for a time when the rate of increase has materially 

 lessened. Such feeding may also be necessary to avoid 

 marketing during a temporary glut in the market, should 

 such feeding be of long duration. 



Coming modifications in feeding. — In fattening cat- 

 tle in some parts of the United States in the past, more 

 food has been fed than was actually necessary to accom- 

 plish the same end had the food been prepared and meted 

 out differently. This does not mean that the methods 

 adopted were not the most profitable under the condi- 

 tions. They were practiced because of the cheapness 

 of the concentrates and the expense of labor. This made 

 it profitable to feed the food to the animals with the 

 least possible preparation. With corn at 20 cents a 

 bushel and less, and corn fodder going to waste, the one 

 aim in the corn belt was to induce the animal being 

 fattened to eat as much as it could be induced 

 to eat of both, to the almost entire exclusion of 

 other foods. In consequence the amount of corn com- 

 monly fed to cattle approaching maturity was from 20 

 to 28 pounds daily, when on full feed, with swine follow- 

 ing. Allowing 5 pounds for the swine, that is, for one 

 animal gleaning after one cattle beast, which is the 

 usual number, the grain portion left to the cattle beast 

 is more than it can properly digest. 



Coarse fodders furnish cheaper food than concen- 

 trates. When, therefore, they can be made to effect the 

 same end sought without too much cost in preparing 

 them, the aim should be to feed them to the greatest 

 extent compatible with the end sought. In 1895-6 the 

 author fed three groups or lots of cattle with three in 

 each group at the Minnesota experiment station. The 

 feeding continued 150 days. The animals in all the 

 groups averaged a little more than 1,000 pounds each 

 when put on feed. Those in lot i consumed on an aver- 



