Morris tribune., 1915-01-29
BABY BEEF GIVES
FARMER A PROFIT
Business Of Growing and Feed
ing Young Stock BeCOnl-
ing Popular,
BY HOWARD R. SMITH,
Division of Dairy and Animal tiusbandry, Minnesota ca
lege of Agriculture.

Iege OF Agriculture.
1t has been pointed out that the con
ditions in Minnesota are favorable fol
the raising of more calves for beef
production. A class of beef very pop
ular with farmers in some sections,
for reasons which will be explained,
and in strong demand at the market
centers is known as Baby Beef"
This means fat calves ranging from
eight to twelve months of age, weigh
ing from 600 to 900 pounds each.
In order to get the necessary fat
ness to command a high price it is
desirable first of all to breed a good
class of beef calves such as might be
had by the use of a low-set, thick
deshed sire of one of the beef breeds.
Early fleshing qualities seem to be
quite largely matter of type rather.
than breed. While the Herefords on.
the average are little more early
maturing than the other breeds, the
short-legged Angus and Scotch Short.
horn sires will do quite as we'll A
good class of beef calves can, be pro-
duced from ordinary grade COWS that
may be good mixers, If the sire is of
the extreme beef type and pure bred
so that the calves will more nearly.
resemble the sire than the dam. =
Heavy Grain Feeding. $50,
This class of beef is well adapted
to farms where there is stuff cient
number of COWS or sheep to consume
most Of the roughage and where there
is the required amount of grain avail
able for fattening the calves 1t takes
heavy grain feeding to produce good
baby beef-all the calves will. eat
just as early as they can be induced
to take it and up to the time theysare
sold. They must be given mere high
priced grain than roughage, y .sbut it.
pays because they take less feed for
a pound of gain at that early age, and
If they are very fat they will bring
as much per pound as larger cattle.
When beef is scarce and high as at
present, the housewife asks for a
small cut and these small carcasses
are in good demand in most, cities.
Heifer calves from good beef sires are
well adapted to this use because they
are finer in bone and fattens faster
rllan steers of the same breeding.
Early Start on Milk. ,
II calves are allowed whole milk
from the dams they get an earlier
start in the fattening process. This
seems rather extravagant, but it often
happens that farmer does not have
the labor to milk as many cows as he
would like to keep to consume his
feed. Moreover, if the calf weighs
900 pounds and brings $50 at the age
Of nine months-not at all unusual in
recent years-the cow is paying we'll
for her feed. With plenty Of grain
supplementing the milk two such
calves can be raised by one good
sized heavy milking cow. Calves well
reared on skim milk will answer the
purpose but require q little more time.
SeIf-Feeder 10 Useful.
A self-feeder for the grain is a great
convenience for fattening calves. They
will not get too much for this purpose
It may be Of interest to know just
what such calf can be induced to
eat. In one experiment the writer
found that calves averaging 500
pounds in weight, each consumed the
following as a days ration: Corn 9