The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-30
(By George French.)

When we talk about beef raised in New England for the market we are compelled to admit that there is but little of it, and that the prospect of more is not as good as 1t ought to be- It is said that not more than five per cent of the beef consumed in New England is raised there When the fundamental facts about raising beef for the market are considered it is plain that New England should grow all the beef the local markets need. In the past it has not been profitable to keep beef cattle through the win ters The steer for beef should be two or two and a half years old, and must therefore be carried through two winters. The first winter, and up to three or four months previous to mak- ing beef of him, he may be kert on short rations He must be fed to grow, but not to fat. He must be housed, in something approaching comfort, and he has to be fed through a long winter and a spring that al- ways seems backward. When he is ready to begin his second winter he should be put in the barn and kept there until he is sold for the slaughter. When he is tied up to be fatted he must be fed with care, and his feed increased until he is having all he will clean up-corn fodder, hay, sflage and all the corn meal he will eat. If the steer is two-year-old, weighing around 1000 pounds, he may be fat ted in two months or a little more. He will gain two pounds a day, some times more.
 Conditions are now such that the farmer can afford to fat steers for the market, if he knows how and if there is a market. It is necessary that business methods be followed, and that the farmer knows how to feed to fit the creatures for. the market in the shortest time and in the best manner There is man in the western part of Massac chusetts who has made money fattening steers for several years. He buys young stock in Chicago and ships them to his farm in the fall. fats them through the winter and sells them in the spring He has made money on every shipment. The work comes during the winter where there is not much to do on the farm, and I sup
 pose this man does not reckon the la bor very high. Cannot the farmer raise his steers as cheapIy as he can buy them? It seems to me that he can raise them much cheaper, or buy calves in the neighborhood. This man paid as much as $5.20 per hun dred pounds for his steers. He says that a steer will not increase enough before he must be sold to pay for feeding him, but that the original weight must be increased in value that is, made fatter so that the beef will be better and command a better price. This is what may be called the hot-house method of fattening. There are those who do not believe in it. One farmer who fattens cattle for the market says they are better if kept in sheds with one side open, dur ing the winter. He says they pay better per bushel of corn fed to them than do the cattle that are kept in barns; and if they are kept in good barns the overhead charge is so high that there is but little profit.
 Raising beef cattle is a speciality, but there is no reason why farmers who have grazing land and can raise forage crops should not take it up, as soon as there is a market. There should be abattoirs established in two