FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 255 
industry is centered in this section. The Far West section, on the 
other hand, furnished nearly one-fifth of the total number of cattle 
other than milch cows,’ which were largely raised and fattened by 
different owners. 
With the passing of the public grazing domain and the gradual 
opening up of the range country in the western States to farmers, 
the second system is slowly giving way to the former; this implies, 
as we shall see, important changes also in the methods of feeding 
adopted. Farmers who raise and fatten their own cattle live in 
agriculturally ‘well-developed States where land is high priced and 
MILLIONS 10 20 30 = 40 50 60 70 = 80 90 100 
1890 
MMMM ron 
es 
00 
wy Hf PEOPLE 
CATTLE 
i aoe Lh = MIA 
59.—From 1890 to 1910 the number of cattle in this country increased from 
53, oon, 000 to 69,000,000, an increase of 30 per cent., andthe population increased from 
63, 000; 000 to 92, 000, 000, an increase of about 46 per cent. ‘The ratio of cattle to popula- 
tion was, in 1890, 100 284, and in 1910, 100 : 67. 
feeding operations expensive, and they must, therefore, get the 
cattle ready for market in shorter time than is necessary for the 
cattle men on the western plains and ranges. The latter occupy 
large areas of cheap lands and can keep cattle at a relatively low 
cost, so that it is not so important whether they are marketed at 
three or four years of age. The farmer in the eastern and central 
States can produce beef profitably only by keeping stock of the 
improved beef breeds or using pure-bred beef bulls and giving the 
cattle good care and attention ; they must also be fed with a view to 
being marketed at an early age, either as baby beef, yearlings, or 
‘ two-year-olds (Fig. 59). 
