Fattening Steers 71 



although it must be distinctly understood that cattle 

 fattening in the West is carried on in an entirely different 

 manner, as outlined in the following discussion. 



FATTENING ON HAY ALONE 



In the West there is no corn, and the grains that are at 

 hand are so high-priced that their use leaves little profit 

 to the feeder. Feeding with grain, while the steers are 

 on rich pasture during the summer, is also impossible in 

 this region, partly because of the high price of grain, 

 partly because of the absence of rich blue-grass pasture, 

 and more especially because the gains made on the range 

 during the summer are so much cheaper than can possibly 

 be produced on any tillable farm. On the other hand, 

 however, the western feeder has the advantage of plenty 

 of alfalfa or clover hay at a lower price and of a higher 

 quality than any hay with which the eastern feeder is 

 familiar. The abundance and cheapness of this hay 

 makes it possible for the western cattle-man to fatten 

 steers in the winter as cheaply as can be done anywhere. 

 In the Corn-Belt the problem is to insure the best possible 

 use of the corn, while in the western states it is the prob- 

 lem to obtain the best possible use of the hay without 

 any grain at all. Western cattle feeding has developed 

 only in recent years. It could not exist until the great 

 irrigated alfalfa hay fields had been developed, and 

 furthermore, with corn selling in the Corn-Belt at 15 to 

 30 cents a bushel, as it was for many years, the western 

 man could not meet the competition even with alfalfa 

 at $4.00 a ton. But with corn at fifty cents and western 

 hay at $5.00 to $6.00 in the stack, the advantage is the 

 other way, at least for a medium grade of steers. Fancy 



