CHAPTER X. 



SELECTING CATTLE FOR, AND THE POSSI- 

 BILITIES OF, THE SHORT FEED 



Undoubtedly the system of feeding cattle a relatively 

 short time, making it possible to handle several different 

 droves a year is becoming more popular. In addition 

 to the advantage of being able to handle more droves 

 each year is the possibility of avoiding the long and 

 necessarily expensive fattening periods. On the other 

 hand the disadvantages of such a system are not want- 

 ing, chief among which are the impossibility of 

 making finished beeves of a high grade, the difficulty 

 of securing suitable stock, and a growing and marked 

 tendency among buyers to strongly discriminate against 

 short-fed cattle. In reality there are two kinds of short 

 feeds, viz., (a) buying noticeably thin fleshed cattle 

 with considerable age, shipping them to the country, and 

 returning them to market in about ninety days after 

 liberal grain feeding. This is a practice commonly 

 spoken of as "warming up." This system deals very 

 largely with cattle of low grade or those plain in quality. 

 (6) The purchase of fleshy cattle of strong weights that 

 have been shipped to market, for one reason or another 

 in a half fat condition. Cattle that are good enough 

 so that packers buy them for slaughtering purposes, 

 not bidding them high, as they are not fat enough to suit 

 the trade demanding choice beef for which those demand- 

 ing it are willing to pay top prices. Those who have 

 made the greatest success of this method of feeding 

 have had unusual facilities for buying and marketing. 

 Skilled feeding is necessarily an important feature of 

 the business, but after all is said, the success of the enter- 

 prise must rest largely in judicious and timely buy- 



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