FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 293 



seem to be the beginning and the end of beef production, they 

 are nevertheless far from it. While, possibly, each advantage 

 has been exaggerated, they are both certainly true, and since 

 there is an abundance of experimental data to prove them, 

 we will let them stand as unimpeachable. 



Disadvantages of baby-beef production. — The production of 

 baby-beef is not without its disadvantages, most of which have 

 been lost sight of because of the lack of practical knowledge on 

 the part of its exponents. Chief among the disadvantages are : 

 first, the difficulty of obtaining cattle possessing sufficient quality 

 to make choice baby-beef. Second, the marked difficulty in 

 making the younger animals fat, it requiring a heavy grain 

 ration. Third, since much baby-beef finds its way to market 

 lacking in finish, it fails to command a high price. Fourth, 

 cattle possessing sufficient quality being scarce, the cost price of 

 such animals is high and because they lack finish on the market 

 the selling price is low; hence the margin between cost and selling 

 price is small. Fifth, the initial weight of the calf is small ; hence 

 in the production of baby-beef the cattle feeder cannot depend 

 for his profit on the advance in value to the hundredweight on 

 the initial weight. From the foregoing it must be apparent 

 that there are many questions involved in the production of 

 baby-beef, and that the profit is not in proportion to the cheap- 

 ness of the gains. 



FEEDING CATTLE FOE THE LOCAL MARKET 



Feeding cattle for the local meat market varies greatly from 

 feeding for a large central market. The agricultural writers 

 and practically all of the experiment literature give advice on 

 feeding cattle by the car-load and for the large central market, 

 yet according to the best figures obtainable nearly one-half 

 the cattle slaughtered in this country are slaughtered by local 

 butchers. 



The local butcher in small places cannot charge enough for 



