The times-herald. [volume] (Burns, Harney County, Or.) 1896-1929, 1918-07-27
RECOMMEND LESS FAT ON BEEF

In view of the unfortunate exper-
ience last winter of some feeders of
heavy cattle, the continued high price
of grain, and the uncertainty of a
continuation of the good prices we'll
finished heavy carcasses recently
command the United States Depart
nlent of Agriculture believes that
feeders should concentrate their eff.
forts on the production of econom!,
caIy short-fed cattle. or course
this statement does not refer to baby
beef production, which is speciality
within itself.
There is no question that for the
last several years cattle feeders have
been making beef too fat-that is.
they have put more finish upon the
animals than economy would justify.
This idea was evidently in the minds
OF the Advisory Committee of Agri-
cultural and Live Stock Producers
appointed by the Department of Agri-
culture and the Food Administration
when that committee recently made
the following recommendation:
1--WE feel that cattle marketed at
the present time in class Qong-fed
or export and highly finished cattle),
and known as exports owing to
the high costs of labor and feed, are
not an economical product, and their
production should not be encouraged. !
Not only has the advisory com
mittee thus warned against the |
heavy feeding of cattle, but it is also |
understood that the Government Of |
ficials directing the buying policies |
of the Government will not consider |
themselves responsible for the prices
OF very fat cattle.
Recent experiments by various
State experiment stations and the
United States Department of Agri
culture have borne out the fact that
good beef can be produced by using
relatively small amount OF grain,
or with nitrogenous concentrates In
connection with silage and some other
cheap roughage in the form of hay.
The principle that should be fol
lowed in future feeding operations.
according to the advice of the De-
partment of Agriculture, is to reduce
to a minimum the amount of high
priced feed and to make judicious use
of cheap roughages. In other words.
instead Of feeding from so to 60
bushels of dry corn per steer for a
long feeding period, as was the Gus
tom in the past, the quantity should
he. and may be profitably, reduced to
] 5 TO 20 bushels in shorter feeding
period, or the dry corn grain can be
eliminated altogether, as the liberal
use OF good quality silage will furnish
an excellent ration.
The use OF cottonseed meal, lin
seed meal, or other protein-rich feed,
even though high in price. is to be
highly recommended, because the
higher other feeds are the more prot
table becomes the use OF a protein
supplement. Expensive hay may be
completely eliminated in the ration
by the use of cheaper dry roughage,
snch as corn stover coarse hay, or
straw.
The department believes that by
avoiding too heavy feeding and too
high finish, and by following the
suggestions given above, feeders
should be able to feed cattle at
profit in spite of the high prices of
feed and labor. The recent state
ment OF the United States Food Ad- 9
ministrstor and the available reports
from foreign countries indicate that
fnere may be great increase I'm the
demand for beef, which is encour-
aging. TO the cattle feeders of this
country and especially those who ,
suffered losses during the past feed
ing season.