Omaha daily bee., 1897-12-30
PREPARING BEEF STEERS
Old Kansas Feeder'sab Experience with
Different Breeds ana Methods.
PREFERS sHoaTHoRNs 10 ALL OTHERS
Advises Farmers if Possible 10 Feed
All the Stock They Raise-value
of Different. Kinds
of Feed.

culture. recently prepared by Secretary f
d. Coburn and devoted to-i'The Beef Steer"
contains interviews with. 100 of the most
experienced and extensive beef-producers In
the state. AS typical of these and the views
of their authors the following from Colonel
j. w. Robinson of Butler county who has
spent a successful lifetime in the business
is excellent:
"Of my forty years experience in beef
production seventeen have been in Kansas
which I most cerauly regard as the appro-
pirate fattening and maturing ground for
cattle reared in the south and west as we'll
as our own. l buy nearly oil the cattle
fatteu, and think the breeds rank as fol-
lows for profit, viz: Shorthorn, Hereford,
red polled angus and galloway; the nearer
full-blood the better in all cases. 1 prefer
calves sucked, they being usually stronger
and more vigorous than those hand raised.
l give the calves raise most OF their dams
milk, plenty Of good grass in its season.
allow them to CLEAN corn, stubble and alfalfa
fields, and In fact the whole farm, and keen
them growing every month in the year
Castrate them at two and six weeks old, and
dehorn quite young also: this should be dcno
when there are no flies. Give some grain
each winter, the quantity to be determined
somewhat by the relative abundance ano
prices OF forage and grain. Steers started
thus are best disposed of at two or three
yearo, though for farmer with only few
and lacking conveniences for fattening, il
may be better to sell as stockers, at one or
two years.
FATTEN YOUR CORN CATTLE.
IF prepared for 1t and he understands
the business, a farmer should fatten what
ever cattle he raises. There Is a possibility
of making a profit by fatteniug cattle when
feeders, and fat cattle are at the same price
but not unless corn is below IS cents or
beef very high, and roughness very low
Under existing conditions to 4-year-olds
after four to seven months on full feed are
the most profitable for marketing. Three
and 4-year-olds from anywhere in the west
or southwest, preferably toward the north,
may do well good deal depends upon their
degree of docility, and they ought to be well
bred
Cattle from central Texas should have a
season on Kansas grass before fattening
with grain; they need domestication as well
as acclimation. Dehorning improves cattle
for handling generally, besides making them
worth ITO 15 cents per hundred more on the
market, the difference being the least with
the more common butchers beeves and
greatest with the better cattle suitable for
export. The shrinkage and cost of dehorning
Is sometimes as muchras 81 per head on
cattle, and 81 on stays and old cattle, but
they are worth fully that much more to put
in a feed lot and will go to market one or
two more in car. 4D'
my cautions about shipping are: Take
corn away from cattle one fedd before load
ing; give no water, but fill with hay the day
they start If the run Is not to exceed
eighteen hours; move carefully, without
soaring, running or pounding and put 25, 900
to $4,000 pounds, according to size of cat
tie, in thiity-six foot car.
FEEDING OF CATTLE.
II have handled few spayed heifers; they
fnt tt1y 4 &1So
equal to steers, though not becoming SO
! heavy Corn is my most profitable crop and
sorghum and alfalfa come next in the order
named; corn and alfalfa require the best soil
while sorghum will grow on poorer land.
Feed fattening cattle first snapped corn, then
the husked ears broken in two and finally
shelled corn. Shredding, as l have seen it
done by an ordinary thresher, seems an ad-
vantage, but have not tried it. Have hired
my grinding done at cost of cents per
hundred pounds, and board and coal for the
outfit Ia fourteen-horse power engine with
a mill grinding 600 to 900 bushels per day.;
but do not think 1t pays when corn is cheap
and one has hogs to run with the cattle.
Soaking corn has proven satisfactory in
warm weather; not that 1t greatly increases
the value of the grain, but frequently the
cattles teeth become sore on hard corn and
grass, and softening the grain induces
greater consumption of both. l use water
tight wagon box made of two-inch lumber
fill within six inches of the top with sheled
corn dry and level full of water, soak twelve
to twenty-four hours, drain off the water by
menas of plug at the end near the bottom
and haul to the feed lot. I have used wheat
bran to mix with other feeds and consider 1t
pound for pound equal in value to ear corn;
cottonseed meal used in the same way Is, /
believe, worth more, pound for pound than
corn meal, as 1t fattens quickly and gives a
soft, oily coat
VALUE OF FORAGE CROPS.
my best gain was made on daily ration
OF twelve pounds of soaked corn four pounds
wheat meal and four pounds cottonseed meal,
with timothy and prairie grass pasture. The
cattle $50 head of mixed grades, 3 and A.
year-olds, averaged 1900 pounds at the be-
gining May l, and gained three and one
half pounds per day for the next two mcnths.
Prairie hay and alfalfa are the best roughness
for feeding with corn; sorghum and millet
prove sometimes too loosening and neither
straw nor corn fodder seem quite satisfac-
tory. Compared with prairie hay at S2 pei
ton would estimate the value of the other
forage crops as follows: red clover, So;
alfalfa, $3.50; millet, 50; sorghum or kafir'
corn hay, $3.50; same with seed, 81; GA,
straw, ~, and wheat straw, $l.50; good
quality Of these feeds is essential, even
when cattle are on full feed of grain. Alfalfa
yields three or four crops per year, without
irrigation, each crop making a ton or moro
per acre, but requires our best bottom land.
In roushing i use 1t with sorghum, millet,
shock corn, straw and prairie hay, and my
2-year-oids usually gain 100 pounds during
the winter. Kafr-corn has not given me rs
good satisfaction as sweet sorghums and the
seed does not make as good meal as corn
does.
"One to three weeks is time enough for
changing cattle from pasture to full feed; in
fact find ii usually profitable with good cat
tlo to give grain while they are cn grlss, to
hurry them up to higher-priced beef; partic-
ularly in early summer fall feeding give
| ten to twenty pounds of cornmeal per day.
Prairie grass pasture costs me 20 to 80 cents
per month, per head, and is equal to tame
pasture through May June and July; later
In the se1son 1t Is notes good, but can be
supplemented quite efficiently with green
corn just past the roasting ear stage or older
use barrel salt in the pasture and feed lot !;
keep roughness before fattening cattle all
the time and do the came with grain, in self
| feeders and open boxes; after they are on
full ra'icns. Feeding places should be we'll
| sheltered Climber, creek banks and dry
sunny places all in cue. lot preferred) as it
| makes 10 per cent decrease in the feed re-
quired and 10 more ip time of feeding"
Folk Lore Society Officers.
BALTIMORE, Dec 29-The American
Folk Lore society closed its ninth annual
convention at the Jehns Hopkins university
taht ha,,