78 BEEF PRODUCTION 



sition with the calf. We have fed calves that were 

 selected with the greatest care as to breeding, age, and 

 uniformity and still found that they lacked much in 

 uniformity at the finish. 



In a general way it may be said that to fatten young 

 animals profitably they must be good, they must be full 

 fed for a considerable time, and they must be made fat. 

 This means that "tops" must be bought or bred. 

 Those who have had experience know that as soon as 

 the cattle feeder goes to "topping" droves of cattle he 

 operates at a disadvantage. A premium is usually 

 demanded for this grade. The cattle feeder should 

 know what he can afford to pay and not give too much 

 heed to the oft-repeated statement that good calves 

 cannot be bought too high. One way of becoming 

 thoroughly convinced that this is not true is to try it. 



SPREAD IN PRICES NARROWER 



The original weight of the calf is small, hence in the 

 production of baby beef the cattle feeder cannot depend 

 for his profit upon the advance in value per hundred 

 weight upon the original weight. In any event the 

 spread between the buying and selling price of calves 

 is not as great as with older cattle. We have known of 

 a number of instances in which calves were purchased 

 by the head and sold fat by the hundredweight where 

 the selling price was no greater than the buying price 

 per hundredweight. If any considerable profit is 

 made in such instances it must necessarily be due to 

 exceedingly cheap gains. The possibility of securing 

 cheaper gains on young cattle than on older ones is an 

 established fact, yet the writer has strong reasons for 

 believing that this difference has been greatly ex- 

 aggerated. 



Profitable baby beef production requires experience, 

 judgment, and skill of a high order. It is a mistake for 

 the inexperienced to dip heavily into this enterprise. 



The most successful operators try to avoid losing 



