CHAPTER VI. 



WINTERING STOCKERS AND FEEDERS 



The writer is unable to present any statistics indi- 

 cating the percentage of cattle purchased for feeding 

 purposes that are simply "wintered" principally upon 

 roughage with a view of finishing subsequently on grass. 

 It is generally known, however, that a large majority 

 of the cattle purchased for fattening are purchased in 

 the fall and early winter months, and more than half 

 of these are bought with a view of wintering them as 

 cheaply as possible and then fattening on grass. The 

 reasons for this system of management are not far to 

 seek. 



On the average corn-belt farm there are stalk fields 

 and straw stacks from which little if any revenue is 

 secured unless used in wintering cattle. In other sec- 

 tions straw, clover-hay and other roughages do not find 

 a ready cash market, and because of this some other 

 disposition is made of them. Wintering cattle for sub- 

 sequent fattening on grass seems to be the most popular 

 channel through which to convert these feeds into cash. 

 Summer fattening is usually more profitable than winter 

 fattening and is much more generally practiced. Those 

 in possession of good pasturage wish to make the best 

 use of it and consequently do not feed liberally of corn 

 or other concentrates during the winter months. In 

 this connection it may be stated that, as a general prop- 

 osition, the more cattle gain on concentrated feeds in 

 winter the less they will gain on grass in the summer. 

 That is to say, if corn is fed liberally during the winter 

 months, the cattle will not make as large gains when 

 turned to grass as they would were they wintered largely 

 on roughage and not the best of roughage at that. Dif- 



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