THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
6o3 
1902 
BEEF IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 
In this vicinity the only beef grown is 
“baby beef,” consisting of calves from 
8 to 16 weeks old, old “milch cows,” fat¬ 
tened when played out for dairy pur¬ 
poses, and young bulls, which are sold 
when one and two years of age. I think 
one-half and possibly two-thirds of the 
grain fed in this county is shipped here 
fiom the West, unless it be oats. Near¬ 
ly every miller and all feed dealers de¬ 
pend entirely upon carload lots for their 
regular supply. There are no calves 
raised unless you count a specimen here 
and there which will be a heifer from 
some favorite cow. There is no other 
time in an animal’s life when the clear 
profit equals that obtained by selling the 
calf at $12 when it weighs 200 pounds. 
Some men here do not milk a cow or 
make a pound of dairy product, buying 
in young calves to keep the number. A 
good cow will give milk for two young 
calves, until ready to fatten off. The 
stock raised is a mixture of everything, 
and most of it contains more or less 
Jersey blood. We have neither the feed 
nor the breed to produce beef. To pay 
freight on both grain and stock before 
uniting them into meat would seem to 
be too expensive, for this country’s 
methods with the usual method of feed¬ 
ing. For some reason not clearly un¬ 
derstood cattle are worth more in Chi¬ 
cago than here, and when one had some 
fattened he would have to take a lower 
price. There are not enough cattle to 
make rivalry or create a class of buyers 
who will compete. To obtain highest 
price, commodities must be produced in 
a given locality in quantities. 
A few scattering men in various sec¬ 
tions where the selling of grain and hay 
has been practiced, and land is easier to 
work, have found their farms getting 
poor, could not get help or did not want 
to produce milk, and they are trying beef 
production. The method is to buy steers 
in Buffalo, watching the market through 
a broker so as to get a growthy lot, 
which are not too heavy now, but will 
make animals heavy enough, when fin¬ 
ished. As they are paid for by the 
pound, one does not want to buy beef, 
only frame. As they do not sell well 
unless of certain weights when disposed 
of, they must be thrifty, and the profit 
sought is obtained from the growth. The 
price paid must he below a certain limit 
for safety, and breaks in the market are 
taken advantage of. These animals are 
wintered on silage, a little hay, and 
grain in very small amounts. In Spring 
they run on large fields of good grass, 
and finish off fast. The aim is to keep 
them on the cheapest possible food at all 
times. One man claims he has cleared 
$1,000 on his year’s feeding, but the price 
is “way up,” and not an average. Some 
years the manure is all the profit that, 
can be found. That occurred when beef 
was down to four cents or when the 
steers sell for less than the purchase 
price per pound. Yes! If one abandons 
old systems and understands perfectly 
the new ones, money can be made feed¬ 
ing steers for the growth. But the man 
who succeeds must understand the art 
of always having cheap food of great 
growth producing power, must also be a 
good judge of cattle, a careful feeder, 
and a good buyer and seller. Not every 
farmer has these qualifications. 
C. E. CHAPMAN. 
Beefmaking in Western New York. 
The farmers in this locality are doing 
more in the way of producing beef than 
formerly, but I do not think they are 
g.ving up their dairies for the produc¬ 
tion of beef in place of milk. I think 
that the western New York farmer can 
at the present time engage in breeding, 
raising and feeding cattle for beef, and 
under proper management realize a fair 
profit, but to buy the cattle and fatten 
them on grain at the present prices can¬ 
not, I think, be done profitably. 
Avon, N. Y. 
Steers are purchased by many of our 
best farmers at this season of the year 
to consume Fall feed, which promises to 
be very plentiful this season, and are 
held until about May 1. Beef cattle have 
sold from five to six cents on foot, and 
nowhere near enough to supply home 
trade. All seem to be well pleased with 
results thus obtained. Sheep are hand¬ 
led in about the same way, many hand¬ 
ling two lots; that is, sell first, buy in 
December or January, buy again and sell 
in April or May. I have heard of no one 
abandoning cows for steers in this sec¬ 
tion, neither do I believe it would pay 
them to do so at present price for milk 
and cream when shipped to Buffalo or 
Rochester. Our home creamery is doing 
a good business making butter, but I be¬ 
lieve raising and fattening steers would 
show better resuas than going to the 
creamery; much would depend upon the 
farmer. a. w. bogue. 
Batavia. N. Y. 
WILL A HEN WORK OVERTIME? 
A correspondent suggests a new wav of 
obtaining eggs in the late Fail. His scheme 
is to set the hens from now on as many 
as can he handled. He thinks that after 
the hens have hatched out their chicks and 
brooded them, they will instinctively start 
to laying, since that would be the natural 
thing for a hen to do after weaning her 
young. In this way ho thinks the hen 
would begin to lay in the Fall, and then by 
proper feeding could be kept at it for some 
time. What is your experience with regard 
to this? 
I think the plan suggested would be a 
mistake, as the hens will not moult as 
soon or as fast when they begin. If run¬ 
ning with chicks, the mother instinct 
causes them to feed their chicks all they 
can get and not eat enough to moult quick¬ 
ly or recover the flesh lost in sitting three 
weeks. Hence, they will not lay as soon 
as though taken from their chicks when 
hatched and fed stimulating food. Hens 
must have a rest after sitting three weeks, 
and need plenty of food to grow a crop of 
new feathers. If they are taken from 
their chicks when hatched, the instinct is 
to lay again as quickly as they can re¬ 
cover flesh or get through with their moult, 
if it is the time of year to moult. It seems 
to be the nature of all feathered fowls to 
raise one brood a year, though a certain 
percentage will raise a second brood if al¬ 
lowed to get out an early brood in Spring. 
Shelbyville, Tnd. s. conger. 
It is a good plan to allow hens which you 
intend to keep for Winter layers to incu¬ 
bate now. When chicks are three days 
old allow the hen to roam at will through 
the orchard or pastures with her flock. 
Feed hen and chicks three times daily if 
they come to their coops, and keep fresh 
water near. This is all the care they need. 
The hen will get in prime physical condi¬ 
tion, rearing her brood under these condi¬ 
tions, will get through the moult quickly, 
and be laying when she weans her brood. 
I have practiced this mode of preparing 
hens for Winter egg production for several 
years with good results. August is the 
month in which to have the hens sitting. 
If later, cold weather is apt to catch the 
hens in moult. A hen will not grow a new 
crop of feathers while incubating, but she 
will grow her feathers while her chicks 
are also feathering. l. d. wright. 
Knoxville, Tenn. 
My experience does not corroborate this 
theory. I used to set quite a few hens in 
August. September, and once in a while in 
October for Winter frying (this was before 
T kept purebred), and it was very seldom 
that a hen went to laying upon weaning 
her chicks; she is much more likely to 
moult, and not lay. Since keeping Wyan- 
dottes I often set hens in August, and 
while they will sometimes lay as soon as 
chicks are weaned I do not know that they 
are more likely to lay through moulting 
than one that has not reared a brood. I 
had a Silver Wyandotte hen wean chicks 
in October and immediately go to laying, 
keeping it up right through the moulting 
until well into the Winter. I had another 
(granddaughter of the one just mentioned) 
that laid without a rest 117 eggs in 160 
days, beginning January 29, and this lasted 
in through a month or so of moult. This 
was her second litter as a pullet; she fin¬ 
ished her first litter early in January. 
Whether she would have laid all the Fall 
if allowed to have brooded a flock I can¬ 
not say. I think it depends upon the hen. 
A few extra good layers of very robust 
constitution might respond to the rest and 
lay fairly well during Fall and Winter if 
properly fed, but as a rule, a moulting hen 
uses all her force in getting her new dress. 
Winwood. Pa. mrs. denton cole. 
We are of the opinion that your corre¬ 
spondent's success in getting Fall eggs has 
been attributed to the wrong source. We 
have raised some Fall chicks for years 
and are of the opinion that it retards rath¬ 
er than promotes laying, because it delays 
the moult until after chicks are hatched 
and perhaps weaned. Then it will not be 
finished until too late to do Fall laying. 
Our experience is that better results can 
be obtained by taking the hens (yearlings 
preferred) immediately after the breeding 
season, say July 1, placing them in confine¬ 
ment and feeding to promote the moult. 
By careful and proper methods of feeding 
the moult can be finished by September 1. 
Then the hens are ready for business, and 
if properly cared for will attend to busi¬ 
ness. Or one may have as good success 
with early-hatched pullets. 
Geneva. Neb. ayers & son. 
I fail to see where there will be any gain, 
even though the hens did lay at that time. 
My experience is that hens will lay Imme¬ 
diately after weaning their young, but why 
not hatch early chicks in Spring? Then the 
pullets should lay in Fall and Winter. My 
experience with the Barred Rocks is that a 
hen that has reared a brood in Spring, let 
it be ever so early, will moult early, about 
August or September, then if she is kept in 
a healthy condition she will begin laying 
in October, and if kept warm and dry, with 
lots of scratching shed and the proper 
care, will lay about all Winter, then sitting 
early in Spring. February or March. An¬ 
other reason why I do not favor the sug¬ 
gestion is that the poor chicks hatched late 
in Summer or early Fall will surely suffer 
from the chilly rains in November, just at 
the time when they need the best of care. 
A warm Summer rain will not hurt them, 
but if it is cold they will surely be sick, 
and those that do not die will not thrive 
like early chicks. geo. h. mayne. 
Springfield. O. 
You can sell the bulk of your hay if 
you shred your fodder with a McCor¬ 
mick husker and shredder. Therefore 
buy the McCormick.— Adv. 
S pavins, ringbones, 
SPLINTS, CURBS, 
And All Form* ot'LnmcncM Yield to 
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Without Leaving Any 
Mark. 
Muscoda, Wis.,Feb. 1,*02. 
Dr. B. J. Kendall Co., 
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A A HON BAK15EK. 
