THE BEEF BREEDS OF CATTLE 225 
has not been confined to the cattle-growers of the United 
States, but has overflowed the borders into Mexico and 
Canada and now bids fair to leave a similar impress on 
the beef-producing herds of those countries. 
259. Merits of Herefords.— For some years the appre- 
ciation of the Herefords was based mainly on their ability to 
withstand hardships and produce beef on grass and under 
the rigorous conditions of the range. Later, when the con- 
ditions on the ranges had changed somewhat, the range- 
raised grade Hereford steers found their way into the feed- 
lots of the corn-growing states, where they gave an even 
better account of themselves in the matter of quick-feeding, 
economy of production, and quality of product when 
finished, than they did on the ranges. At first only steers 
two years old and over were admitted to the feed-lots, 
but later high-grade steer calves of this breed were taken 
directly from the range into the feed-lots. This opened up 
a new field in the production of high-class beef. The 
experiments in full-feeding high-grade calves were so 
satisfactory that a great demand for this class of feeding 
cattle has resulted. The calves are taken from their 
mothers on the range at weaning age in the fall and are 
shipped directly to the feed-lots, where they are full-fed 
and grazed for about twelve months. Then, as yearlings, 
they go to market weighing 1000 to 1200 pounds, where 
they are known as “ baby beef,” a product that is not 
produced so successfully and profitably from the grades 
of any other breed of cattle as from the Hereford. 
At the time that Hereford bulls were introduced on 
the ranches, herds of pure-bred Herefords in America 
were few in number and small in size, so that they were 
unable more than partially to supply this demand, with 
the result that Hereford bulls were high in price. This 
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