The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1917-07-06
BABY BEEF FOUND
PROFITABLE NOW
IN MANY CASES YOUNG, STOCK
PATTERNED FOR MARKET
Is BEST MONEY MAKER.
me Younger the Animal, the Less
Feed 1t Takes to Make a Pound of
Haln; the Greater the Variety of
Ration, the Greater the Gain Per
round of Feed; Reduce Waste.

Manly FARMERS are finding that the
raising OF baby beef for the market is
profitable today even though the
prices OF nay and grain are high. The
men who have been producing baby
peer have been able to make fair
profit, In fact, than those who have
fed mature stock, whether such stock
was home grown or from the range.
With the 3-year-old or 4-year-old
range steer in the feed lot, two to
two and a half tons of hay and one
ton OF grain per head is considered
necessary to finish a 1900 to 1900
pound steer. On the other hand. it
has been demonstrated again and
again that a well-bred calf kept
growing thriftily up to IA or 1S
months can be finished in condition
to top the market with less grain and
nay during it's entire life than is re-
qulred to finish the 4-year-old, the
2-year-old being better beef weigh
ing as much and selling for high
price per pound.
Young Beef Cheapest.
1t would seem then that to cheaper
the cost of beef it will be necessary
to take advantage of such well-recog-
nized facts as these: The younger
the animal the less feed it takes to
make a pound of gain. The greater
the variety in the ration the greater
the gain per pound OF feed, there
fore the less will be the cost per
pound of meat made.
The animal. old or young, uses the
proteins and the carbohydrates in
certain proportions; more or less of 4
either than the animal uses is wasted.
Therefore the nearer the ration is
compounded to make a balanced ra-
ton the less waste there will be. In
beefmaking as in other lines of man
ufacturlng, cost of production is re-
duced by the elimination of all UNI
necessary waste.
Stunted Stock Costly.
1t costs less to keep an animal
growing than to start it growing
again after it has stopped. Once an
animal is stunted for lack of food, |
no after feeding can entirely remedy
the damage. 1t always takes more
feed to make a pound of gain on an
animal that has once been stunted
than on one that has been kept con-
StdHlly growing.
The food or maintenance is an ex-
pense account; remember, therefore,
that 1T requires much less feed to
manufacture 1900 pounds of meat in
"a months than it does to take As
months in which to do the work.
With young growing animals it is
a Well-recognized fact that if a por-
ton of the ration is succulent feed
roots, silage Or green feed-either as
pasture grass or soiling ccrop, it re-
quires less amount of nutriment to
make pound of gain than when the
entire ration is dry grain and forage
Corn as Fodder.
On high-priced lands silage and
soiling crops are as a rule more econ
omical feeds than pasture. It has
been practically demonstrated than
farmers can grow corn in many parts
of Montana and with the single ex-
ception of alfalfa on irrigated land.
it will produce more feed per acre
than any other plant known. Fod-
der corn, alfalfa hay and roots make
a palatable, well-balanced and econ
omical ration for young growing
stock.
The best known way of storing the
fodder corn is the slo.
Steers under two years of age
make an average daily gain greater ,
in value than the cost of feed. I