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 
