54 Western Live-stock Management 



as a dairy cow and yields about one-third the income. 

 To put him in the stable and feed him in the same manner 

 as a dairy cow would be an economic impossibility, al- 

 though the finest kind of beef might be produced in this 

 way. The beef steer cannot compete with the dairy cow 

 or the pig for feeds which these animals can use. 



BULLS 



Like nearly all male animals, bulls will last longer, have 

 a larger percentage of calves, and handle a larger number 

 of cows when they are not allowed to run with the cows at 

 will, but are kept up and the cows brought to them when 

 they come in heat. In spite of these facts, however, where 

 beef is raised on a large scale it seems absolutely necessary 

 that the bulls be allowed to run with the cows. The bad 

 results arising from this practice can be and are largely 

 overcome by providing more bulls and by using only 

 mature or fairly mature bulls. In many places there is 

 such an indiscriminate mixing of the herds that the owners 

 do not know whether their calves are from their own 

 bulls or from their neighbor's bulls, or even from some 

 maverick that has escaped castration. Under these con- 

 ditions there is little incenti^'e toward the use of good 

 sires. The range-man should, therefore, see that his 

 cattle are so managed that his cows, and his cows only, 

 are served with his bull. This may be accomplished in 

 three ways : cooperation, line riding, and fencing, or 

 perhaps by all of these together. Since the range-man 

 seldom owns all of the land upon which he runs his cattle, 

 fencing cannot be generally practiced, and even when he 

 does own his range, the land may be so poor that the task 

 of fencing enough off to make grazing possible for his 



