Fattening Steers 79 
feeders sometimes feed from narrow troughs, about twelve 
or fifteen inches wide, but usually change to the standard 
feed-bunks after a year’s experience. In building bunks, 
as with all other cattle equipment, strength is essential. 
In feeding grain, it is important that the correct amount of 
bunk room be provided. The steers should have plenty 
of room so that all may get to the bunks at one time; 
otherwise the timid ones will get nothing. On the other 
hand, there must not be much vacant space, since the 
greedy steers will get their grain eaten first and then go to 
the vacant space and obtain a second helping. As in 
the racks, about three feet of space for each steer will 
be needed; that is, three feet along one side or at 
the end. 
The steers must be started with a small amount of 
grain and gradually worked up to the desired ration just 
as in corn feeding, but it does not take long to have the 
steers eating as much grain as is ever used in the West. 
Some find it profitable to feed no grain until about the 
last month or two, and then to use a little in order to 
give the steers a better finish and make them stand the 
shipping better, but the usual practice is to feed hay alone, 
making no attempt to use grain at all. The price of grain 
in the West is too high to enable the feeder to make much 
profit by its use. If the hay is of the best quality, a good 
gain may be made, and, while not as large as on grain, 
at a cheaper cost. But the hay must be good. Poor 
or damaged hay is not worth feeding for fattening pur- 
poses. It will produce nothing more than a fair growth, 
and the steers will be worth no more a pound when through 
than at the beginning. It is argued that the time to 
feed the grain is when the hay is poor; and it is true that 
good results may thus be obtained, but the gain all comes 
