CATTLE ON GRASS 107 



is to remain permanent for a scries of years it will be 

 profitable to add to the farmyard manure phosphorus 

 in some form in which it will become slowly available. 

 Bluegrass pastures of long standing or imperfect stand 

 are greatly/improved by thoroughly disking, after which 

 some clover and timothy and possibly some bluegrass 

 may be sown. A given acreage of pasture will furnish 

 more feed if divided into medium-sized fields than it 

 will if left in one large pasture. 



One of the principal points to be observed in the 

 management of pastures is not to overstock them. 

 Cattle require luxuriant, not closely cropped, grass and 

 if they are furnished with a continuous and abundant 

 supply of the former they will make satisfactory gains 

 at low cost. 



FATTENING CATTLE ON GRASS 

 To advise what is good practice in fattening cattle 

 on grass one must know whether or not the cattle feeder 

 wishes to sell "grass fat" or corn fed cattle, at what 

 time the cattle are to be marketed, and in what way 

 they have been wintered. 



To get satisfactory results from fattening cattle on 

 grass alone the cattle used should be wintered very large- 

 ly on roughage, for if they have acquired the habit of 

 depending very largely upon a highly concentrated or 

 grain ration for their nourishment they will shrink heav- 

 ily when grain is withheld. If, however, cattle are to 

 be fleshy enough to sell for killing purposes they must 

 be in good, thrifty, and even fleshy condition. Cattle 

 so conditioned for the market are seldom, if ever, fat 

 enough to successfully compete in the market with corn- 

 fed cattle, and unless land is cheap and corn high in 

 price this practice seldom proves to be the most profit- 

 able one. Gains are undoubtedly cheaper than where 

 corn or other concentrates are fed, but the lower price 

 which must be accepted for such cattle usually more 

 than counterbalances this advantage. That is to say 



