Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1918-08-17
Range and Market News Pertaining the Livestock Industry Arizona
 Market Letter for the Past Week.
ADVISES AGAINST HEAVY
 FEEDING OF BEEF CATTLE
(By Charles Ousley, Asst. Sec'y. of
 Agriculture)

(By Charles Ousley, Asst. Sec'y. of
 Agriculture)
 In view of the unfortunate experi- ence last winter of some feeders of heavy cattle, the continued high price of grain, and the uncertainty of con- tinuation of the good prices well-fin- ished heavy carcasses recently com mand the United States Department of Agriculture believes that feeders should concentrate their efforts on the production of economically short fed cattle. Of course, this statement, 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 Ad- visory Committee of Agricultural and Livestocks Producers appointed by the food administration when that com mittee recently made the following recommendation:
 eve feel that cattle marketed at the present time in class 4 (long-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 pro- duction should not be encouraged"
 Not only has the advisory commit tee thus warned against the heavy feeding of cattle, but it is also under stood that the government officials di- recting the buying policies of the gov- ernment will not consider themselves responsible for the prices of very fat cattle.
 Beef With Less Grain
 Recent experiments by various state experiment stations and the United States Department of Agriculture have borne out the fact that good beef can be produced by using relatively small amount of grain, or with nitro genous concentrates in connection with silage and some other cheap roughage in the form of hay.
 The principle that should be follow ed in future feeding operations, ac- cording to the advice of the Depart ment of Agriculture, is to reduce to minimum the amount of high-priced feed and to make judicious use of cheap roughages. In other words, in- stead of feeding from 50 to 60 bushels of dry corn per steer in long feed ing period, as was the custom in the past, the quantity should be, and may be profitably, reduced to 15 to 20 bushels in shorter feeding period, or the dry corn can be eliminated al- together, as the liberal use of good quality silage will furnish an excellent ration.
 Use of Protein Supplements
 The use of cottonseed meal, linseed meal, or other protein-rich feed, even though high inf price, is to be highly recommended, because the higher oth- CT feeds are the more profitable be- comes the use of protein supplement. Expensive hay may be completely eliminated in the ration by the use of a cheaper dry roughage, such as corn stover, coarse hay, or straw.
 The department believes that by avoiding too heavy feeding and too high finish, and by following the sug- gestions given above, feeders should be able to feed cattle at a profit in spite of the high prices of feed and la bor. The recent statement of the United States Food Administrator and the available reports from foreign countries indicate that there may be a great increase in the demand for beef, which is encouraging to the cattle feeders of this country and especially those who suffered losses during the past feeding season.
 There is hardly town in the United States that could not spare all its able bodied men for day out of the week throughout the year, or for one or more weeks at time, without any serious interruption to the business of the community. The merchants Of Amherst County, Va, have agreed to close their stores every Wednesday in order that their employees may work in gardens or on farms. Eimilar ac- tlon in every community in the United States will save the crops without the slightest loss and with no serious in convenience to any business or any industry. The farmers themselves and