BUYING FEEDING CATTLE 15 



or cottonseed meal, slightly less corn will be needed. 

 If other roughages than clover and alfalfa aie used, 

 such as corn stover and straw, then less clover will be 

 required. If cattle are on grass the acreage required 

 will depend upon the extent to which grain is fed. and 

 the quality of the grass. Knowing approximately the 

 amount of feed produced that is available for feeding 

 cattle, the feeder is thus in a position to know about 

 how many cattle he can feed advantageously. 



In regard to the number the cattle feeder 

 should feed, the writer wishes to emphasize the fact 

 that cattle feeding is a business that lends itself most 

 advantageously to extensive practice and methods. In 

 other words, the cattle feeder who does not feed at least 

 a carload is greatly handicapped when it comes to sell- 

 ing — so much so that we do not advise the finishing 

 of cattle in less than car lots. This same thought car- 

 ried a little further means that the cattle feeder who is 

 in a position to feed even more than one carload has a 

 distinct advantage over the one-carload feeder. As a 

 rule, he saves on freight, labor, and purchased feeds. 

 Further than this, he has an opportunity to more evenly 

 grade his cattle to the advantage of the more timid and 

 smaller cattle in the feed lot. Again, some cattle finish 

 more quickly than others, and the extensive feeder has 

 the opportunity to select a load of this kind and market 

 them as soon as they are ready. The one-load feeder 

 is likely to have one or more steers that are not finished, 

 a few that may be considerably fatter than the majority, 

 enough so, at least, to make the load look uneven, and, 

 as a result, sell unsatisfactorily. 



Successful beef production usually comes as a reward 

 to those who have made a close study of the business 

 and have pursued it sufficiently long to render them keen 

 to take advantage of every favorable opportunity that 

 presents itself /whether it be drought or flood, for buying 

 to advantage. They aim to buy when, for whatever 

 reason, they can get the best quality for the least money. 



