196 FARM ANIMALS 
pig to the steer; and crushed or ground corn, one shote 
to two or three steers. 
5. Age and yields of milk and meat.—The most eco- 
nomical gains in meat cattle are secured during the earliér 
periods of growth. Calves lay on a pound of increase for 
every pound and a half of food. When maturity has been 
reached from 10 to 12 pounds are necessary for making 
a pound of gain. To produce a pound of butter requires 
about two and one-half times as much food as to produce 
a pound of gain in steers. The cost of milk is greatest in 
the first milking period in heifers. The cost decreases 
steadily until old age. The average dairy cow is at her 
best from the sixth to the tenth year. After the twelfth 
to thirteenth year the decrease in milk is very great. 
USING THE DISHORNING CLIPPERS 
6. Dishorning—Removing the horns of cattle is 
humane because it prevents torture and permanent pain 
that certain individuals in every beef or dairy herd inflict 
on their mates. Horns may be removed in two ways. 
In the use of the dishorner, an implement for cutting 
off the horns of growing calves and mature cattle; and 
of caustic potash, a chemical that can be obtained at any 
drug store. The latter method is the simplest and any- 
one can perform the operation, Get a stick of this chem- 
