BEEF PRODUCTION 



PART I. 

 FATTENING CATTLE FOR THE MARKET 



CHAPTER I. 



THE RELATION OF CATTLE FEEDING TO SOIL 

 FERTILITY 



More extensive operations in cattle feeding can con- 

 sistently be urged upon farmers in general from the 

 standpoint of maintaining or improving the fertility of 

 the soil. It may be argued that other classes of live- 

 stock, horses, sheep, and hogs, may be fed with greater 

 profit. This may be granted where conditions are 

 especially favorable to these interests, but it must be 

 admitted that it is difficult, if not indeed impracticable, 

 to keep sufficient hogs to furnish the desired amount 

 of fertilizer. Then, again, cattle consume certain by- 

 products of the farm that are difficult to convert into 

 pork or bacon, mutton, or horse flesh. The feeding of 

 cattle with hogs as an adjunct seems a logical solution 

 to the conversion of farm products into cash meat prod- 

 ucts, furnishing at the same time a valuable machine 

 for the manufacture of farm yard manure. Cattle 

 feeding does not necessarily mean the exclusion of other 

 classes of live stock on the farm. 



The animal husbandry department of the Illinois 

 Experiment Station has repeatedly stated in its bulle- 

 tins that it believes that the manure produced by fat- 

 tening steers will balance the expense of labor in caring 



