The Little River news., 1916-04-22
GROWING ANIMALS ON THE,
No. {. Growing Beef Cattle.

! By H. E. DvOrachek, Professor of AnfI
 mai Husbandry, University of
 Arkansas.
 The growing of beef cattle has al> ways been at it's best where pasture is plentiful, so that cattle can feed themselves a good share of Che tine> Besides pastures, the growing of for, age crops is essential to cheap produc- tion. Of the forage crops the legumes are especially desirable The long pasture season on nutritious, nstive grasses and the adaptibility of Ar, kansas conditions to the growing of legumes should make the production of beef cattle profitable.
 The proper wintering of the beet COW is an important matter The D-ac> tice of allowing the COW to rough t through the winter without any pro- vision of feed by the owner is utterly wrong An unthrifty condition "a bound to result and the COW comes out of the winter too thin, in many cases, to give birth to strong calf. much less provide an abundant flow of milk which is so necessary 10 start the calf off right. and keep it growing until it is old enough to util, ize pasture The ration for breeding cows need not be expensive. In fact. if silage cnn be provided, and the~e is no reason why it cannot, O.. large majority of Arkansas farms. ana some dried roughage, preferably one Of the legumes, can be given, no grain will be necessary to bring COWS out in the spring in splendid condition. N the dried roughage must be such crops as the sorghums. Sudan grass. or na- tive grasses, {; few pounds of cotton seed meal will supply the protein re, Quirement very cheaply.
 If the calf is given plenty of mtlk by the COW on pasture, and pastures are abundant, it should come in Tn the fall at weaning time in excellent condition, and from early spring caly- ing, should weigh between four and five hundred pounds. The first win, ter is the critical time in the life or beef calf. At weaning time it should be eating sufficiently we'll so that the loss of milk will work little hardship, Instead of the common practice of let. ting such weanlings go through the winter trying to make an existence on some poor unpalatable dried roughags 1t will be found economical to feed quite liberally on more wholesome ration. Where calves are roughed through, they generally lose as much as a hundred pounds m weight, which it takes them half the following sum- mer to regain, besides losing quality which can never be regained. The ration fed should be conducive to growth rather than to fattening Here again the succulence of sllage is very desirable as we'll as the legumes to [ supply protein and mineral matter. Instead of cOttonseed meal, oats is ex, cellent when not too expensive. The requirement. of grain should be gauged by the results desired. Cotton calves and should not be used A small amount of corn if legumes arc used for roughage could be used. If crowded too much during the first winter the gains on pasture the fol. lowing summer, however, are general ly disappointing.
 The fattening of beef cattle in Ar kansas has thus far been successful only to a limited extent. Our class ot cattle and feed available have made tho short periods of fattening, say ninety days moro profitable than the long periods of say ono hundred ana, eighty days. Tho grain rations neces- sary> for the long periods has proved too expensive although the Arkansas feeder has . very cheap and efficlentl concentrate in cotton seed meal How. ever, it cannot bs fed in large Quan1 titles for only the short period and the corn-fed finish canAot be attained with cotton seed meal alone. As thsI growing of corn becomes more gem sral, the time will come when the finishing of cattle can be done as welll and as profitabiy h Arkansas as it ia now being done in the corn belt statesi and perhaps even moro so.
 The greatest needs of Arkansas for the profitable growing and fattenipal of beef cattle are the eradicatls4 oA the fever tick 90 that cattle can gaEeI . nDsmal growth, the introduct oH better blood through good sires, ri win quickly follow tiok eradi(
 end . better understanding of
 growing so that the favorable
 tfons which prevail can be tals
 vAataae of to the fullest extent