LESSON TWENTY-ONE 
FEEDING BEEF CATTLE 
1, Wild cattle are seldom fat—Animals in a wild state 
are not easily fattened. It has taken many centuries 
of careful selection and breeding to bring the cattle of the 
plains, lowlands or mountains up to a point at which 
they will lay on gains rapidly and at a reasonable cost. 
It has been the work of the breeder to select out of the 
whole those individuals that were most disposed to fatten 
easily and naturally, and use them as foundation stock 
for an ever-improving race of meat animals. 
Breeds have been developed that represent in a high degree this 
tendency or disposition to give rapid growth and to fatten readily. 
A large proportion of the cattle stock is still inferior for any pur- 
pose. Success in the feed lot depends on the class and the in- 
heritance of the animals selected. In fattening cattle, the first task 
is to select the right kind of animals—those that have been bred 
to fatten, that possess hidden quality and that are of the conforma- 
tion which practical experience has shown to he associated with 
rapid increase and tender, juicy meat. 
2. Younger stock now 
being fattened—In the 
old days cattle were car- 
ried along for four or five 
years and then fattened. 
The new way is to grow 
beef. Young animals 
are now brought to ma- 
turity and finish at as 
early an age as possible. 
If steers can be brought 
by liberal treatment to FEEDER OF OLDEN DAYS 
marketable weight at 12 There is no profit in this kind of stock in 
these days of high labor and costly feeds. 
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