The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-01-23
FEEDING FOR BEEF.
fom- Excellent Hints by . Practical Oil
Farmer.

/ som Excellent Hints by Practical Ohio
Farmer.
| Most farmers at some time attempt
the winter stall-feeding of cattle for
beef, and if entered upon with but little
experience, it oftener proves unprofit-
able than otherwise. When a farmer
is fixed for it and understands the de-
tails of rnanagement-knows how to
select good stock. how and when to
feed and when 10 sell-there is a good
profit in the business, and a large
amount of excellent manure will be
made, which will keep up the fertility
of the soil. If, on the other hand, cat
tie are bought at the wrong season of
the year, or are badly managed at the
start or allowed to tramp over the farm
during the open weather of winter, it
often happens that neither profit to the
feeder nor Improvement to the soil re-
suits but rather disappointment and
loss.
My first experience in stall-feeding
cattle was Improbable, simply from
over feeding at the start. A near
neighbor bought lot of cattle at the
same time. and thought it would be
nice thing to beat him. and get n
greater gain per head, and so put my
cattle at once on full feed. The conse-
Guence was that some of them were off
feed nearl5 all the time, and as L still
kept feeding strong before spring.
several OF them had been over-fed
so many times that they had be-
come dyspeptic. or at least they
were easily upset as to their digestion,
and none If them did well. As cattle
sold at high prices the next spring. |
did not lose any money on them, and
nv profit from what | learned (but
probably ought to have known without
this lesson)-the fact that changes in
diet should always be gradual-prob-
ably paid me well for my trouble. At
any rate | have never since taken cattle
from the pasture and put them at once
on full feed in the stubble and never
shall. / give one rule never 70 be
varied from in feeding for beef: AL
ways feed lightly with grain at the
start, increasinggradually and be about
a month ia getting your cattle on full
feed.
The next lesson / took cost me moth
ing. for the same neighbor who beat
me on the first trial 1--WE both bought
our cattle in December that year, was
so elated with his success. that he
bought thirty head about the first of
November, the next fall, but | con-
Guided to be locker on this season,
II 81.
them closely and found that he had
bought at the wrong season of the
year. for, though he began grain feed
ing soon after buying, the cattle lost
flesh in the transition from grass to
grain, and were not perceptibly heavier
the first of January than when
he bought them. although they
had been on full feed for a
month. This was practical illustra-
ton Of what butchers call getting the
gross out of them" | also came to
the conclusion (and have had it abund-
antly confirmed since) that one hun
dred days is about as long as it is
profitable to keep cattle on full feed in
the stall, and deduced j second rule
to apply to winter feeding of beef cat
tie which reads as follows: do not
buy cattle to feed for May market be-
fore the first of January, and only get
them on full feed about three months
before you intend 10 market them"
The next lesson l learned in the
profitable production of beef was that
grass and grain feeding combined
would give the greatest profit. An en-
tcrprising farmer who had followed
winter feeding for some years with I'M
satisfactory returns, after spending
considerable thought on the matter.
concluded to try Il different plan, and
bought his cattle in February, fed
ghtly with grain through March, and
had them on full feed about month
before going topasture. After turning
them on grass. he fed corn in troughs
n 4 feed lot adjoining the pasture. call
ing his cattle up every evening and re-
plenishing the corn. The first years
feeding in this way was so satisfactory
that he has followed it ever since. and
in every Ease has fed ut large profit.
This farmer has fattened, since he be-
gan this plan, over six hundred steers,
part when corn was worth twenty cents
~ l"fHt -4lNc 'CHtN pti b'sHhVl' anu
part when it cost sixty cents, and al
ways with satisfactory results.
He has, in private letter to me.
made 4 few statements. which. from his
long experience, he thinks established
facts:
First. That it takes only half as
much corn TO fatten a steer. or to put
the same weight on him when on dry
feed. Ir. accounting for this he states
that steers weighing from ten to four
teen hundred pounds each, will eat an
average CT peck Of corn a dav when
OIL grass. and their gain will be very
nearly uniform. In winter feeding they
viii eat from one-third to one-half
bushel a day, but often there will be
cold storms, or intensely cold weather,
so that the cattle will make no gain at
al for some days, and although the
cattle eat half as much more corn than
when Ga pasture, they also make 4
much greater Ssin during the time they
are eating il.
Second. He states that the danger
ct over feeding and consequent loss of
appetite and flesh, are very small in
zG:amer feeding. as cattle full of grass
anti 80 always feeds at night-will
nat eat enough to hurt them.
Third. Es states that pasture
that will support zen steers without
corn. VIII be ample Tor twenty of the
same size when fed corn, which is an
other important factor in the profit of
This method of feeding.