Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-07-09
STU0Y CATTLE markets.

WI - tbBtbtINA "
Feaders Should Plan Months Ahead
for the Sale Of Their Fat
| tea,ing Animals.
TN number of Instances last winter
men who had undertaken the feed
Ing OF cattle failed because of a
failure to map out definite plan be-
FORE they commenced feeding. One
man. for example, started to feed a
number Of cattle fer the Christmas
market, He had very little expert
ence, and not knowing how long It
took to finish an animal, found them
unfit for the market when Christmas
arrived.
He had feolishly commenced fees
Ing them heavy l.rain ration from
the start, thinking that by so doing
he would finish them rapidly, and
thus he found his grain supply pretty
we'll exhausted before his cattle were
half finished. ,
He had also led them about twice
as much grain as was necessary to
secure good gain, and hence with
half finished cattle on his hands, used
to heavy grain ration, he could not
let down on the amount of meal food.
There was no recourse but to in
crease the supply of meal and con-
tinue to feed for several months in
order to get rid Of the cattle at a fair
price. The experiment, SO far as he
was concerned, was financial fail
ure, though men in the vicinity where
this happened fed cattle at profit.
1 The other. instances referred to,
While different in detail. were similar
In results and the cause was almost the
same: The inference to be drawn is
that one who proposes to feed cattle
must know what he is trying to do
and then proceed in an Intelligent way
II he hopes to succeed,
Formulating the plan is therefore
the first essential and might appro-
prlately form feeders motto. True,
plan no matter how we'll prepared,
cannot always be adhered to, but it is
easier to meet contingencies with one
in mind than when going at hap
hazard gait.
After the cattle are secured many
persons make the mistake of putting
them on feed at once. Animals
brought off the grass will not readily
take to fodder and grain ration.
They must be given several DAYS in
which to become accustomed to the
changed food and surroundings.
| This is appropriately termed the
preliminary feeding period and should
cover from Z to IA days, the longer
period being preferable. During this
time very little grain need be fed;
just enough to accustom them to its
use and to get them to relish it. Give
them good corn fodder or silage, but
do not feed lavishly. The attempt
should be rather to teach them to &C
quire liking for the new food.
Animals will sometimes not take
readily to new kinds of foods for sew
eral days. Examples of which arc
sometimes seen in the case of silage
and cotton-seed neal. After they
once acquire a taste, however, they eat
these foods ravenously. The putting
on feed" process should therefore be
slow and deliberate.
| A violent change of foodstuffsi re-
lquires new adjustment of the diges-
Tive system, and many people make
the mistake of trying to rush cattle on
heavy grain ration in the beginning.
with the result that the appetite soon
becomes cloyed and the animals go
"off feed" something little short of a
disaster to the feeder.
With new foods and forced feeding
from the beginning the digestion of the
animals is likely to be upset. SO the
GLOWING OF the appetite and getting off
feed" is often not a simple matter, but
something whose effects may be felt
for several months.
O. v Leighton, of Fayette, Idaho,