The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-09
BEEF AND PORK MAKING.
How the Farmers of the Corn Belt
Fattem Cattle and Hogs.


tieman.
The frame work on which the feeder
hangs the beef is raised on the great cat
lie ranges of Western Nebraska and West
ern Kansas, of Colorado, Wyoming, Mon
tana and other Western states and terri
tories. This is the home of the cowboy
the native lair of the Rough Rider. Mag
ezines and newspapers have told so much
Of this life that we all know more or less
of it-less rather than more These frames,
.stockers and feeders" as they are called
when grown 10 two or three years of age,
are shipped into the stock yards at one or
her of the great cattle marke ts-Kansas
civ. Omaha or Sioux City. Here come the
farmers from the great corn belt, looking
for cattle to which to feed their millions
of bushels of corn. If the frames or feed
ers are good grades, sired by a Shorthorn
("Durham"), Polled Angus, or, best of all,
Hereford Casually called Whiteface) bull,
they are quickly sold and soon in the cars
again on their way to the feed lot of the
purchaser.
The feeding process may last from four
to ten months, depending on the character
of tine cattle and the intelligence and care
of the man feeding them. When fat they
are once more put on the cars and are
aiken to the greatest fat-cattle market in
tbe world Chicago where the great meat
hackers convert them into the beef that
supplies your table and mine.
This cattle feeding is the great industry
Of Western Iowa. The writer is very ia
roj,iar with il in Southwestern Iowa. There
almost every farmer is a cattle feeder
Corn is the great crop of the country. and
cattle feeding is simply method of mar
leting corn-the best method. a feed lot
may he anywhere from one acre 10 a quar-
TOR section. but the feed lot itself is usually
onlv a few acres fenced in. II is connected
IN, Gates or lanes with pasture fields in
summer aud corn stalk fields in winter
Most feed lots in Southwest Iowa nave no
shelter sheds or rooted place of any KIM
INFO or under which the steers may go. An
effort is usually made to locate a feed lot
i'm a sheltered spot and corn cribs ana nay
..cl.s are often placed along the northern
lido IF il in such a way as 10 break the
wind 1t should be remem bered that ~ de-
orees below zero is not an unusual winter
ten1peratu lure in this section. But the ar Is
drv and crisp, and the cold Is not felt
as it is in New England and the middle
states. 49,. eooa
,ot do not know what corn is, and will
,,at toIIch il. 1t usually takes a month to
-et them ION full feed Full feed" is
approximately half a bushel OF corn
fshelled) per day per steer. Steers bought
nom September to November for the Win
Ter feed usually weigh from 600 TO l,2OO
mounds. Such large framed, well-bred
t,eers take on fat very rapidly and in
from four to six months weigh from 400
10 800 pounds Corn is the only grain
fed them. All their other food is known
as sroughness." This usually consists of
hay and cornstalks. The hay is fed in
racks along the sides of the feed lot. The
stalks are left standing in the field wnen
the corn is shucked or snapped, and the
cattle are allowed to run in the field and
help themselves. Three or four acres are
considered enough to winter a steer, but
the stalks are never eaten up clean. Much
j.; left to be broken, raked up and burnt
in the late winter or cary spring. The hay
in the racks is usually shaken up and re-
plenishod twice a day. Corn is supposed to
be fed twice day, morning and night, but
as a matter Of fact there is seldom an
hour from the time steers are put into the
feed lot till the time they are sold when
an enterprising steer cannot get all the
corn ne wants and more.
Corn is fed both shelled and unshelled. |
In most feed lots are many feed hunks. |
These are shallow troughs, from ten TO
sixteen feet long, about three feet wide |
and six inches deep. These stand on legs !
about two and one-half feet long. They are |
strongly built and stoutly braced, and are |
used for either ear corn or sheled corn, |
which is drawn to them in wagons. In
this connection it should be remembered |
that the ordinary Western farm wagon |
has a body with sideboards twenty-siX |
inches high Such a body holds with ease |
sixty bushels of shelled corn. When ear |
corn is fed, the ordinary sideboards are |
supplemented by two or three feet of home |
eyed sideboards. On top of these is |
the inevitable drivers spring seat.
Sheled corn is often fed from what are |
called self-feeders. These are boxes about
ten feet square and the same in hight. !
They often have roof. They are sur
rounded az about two and one-half feet |
from the ground by a shallow trough |
about two feet wide. A section in the |
middle of the lower board of each side is |
arranged SO it can be raised or lowered al |
will leaving a wide or narrow crack |
through which the corn leaks out into the |
trough This arrangement, while con-
Venient is by no means automatic. A |
man must get into this trough twice a
day with scoop shovel and distribute |
The corn evenly ali around the trough |
oeH-feeders are often mounted on two par |
alel TWO or three-inch planks with the !
corners next the ground curved or cut
away like sled-runners, 50 they can read
"' ne moved from place TO place. When |
crib for ear corn is built in or alongside |
OF a feed lot, ii often has trough around |
~ on one side of it, thus converting it |
mo self-feeder for ear corn. Ear corn /
y ted twice a day The aim is to put |
out Just enough. In practice too much is |
always put out The corn remaining in
me hunks at the time of the next feed
IS seooped out on TO the ground before
'ne fresh allowance is put in the hunks.
livery year steers die in the stalk fields.
some say from the smut they eat. 1t is
usually half a mide from the stalk field to
ne nearest water, and often the steers are
ehced in so they cannot go for water |
mink the dry fodder without water is suf-
.elent TO account for these occasional
oeaths, though l do not speak with au-
'horlty on this subject In the feed lots
ample fresh water is always provided,
ether from springs or more often by the