SF 207 W4 GIFT OF Agriculture Education ffl' Cattle Registry Associations AMERICAN ABERDEEN-ANGUS BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION, Chas. Gray, Secretary, Union Stock Yards, Chicago, 111. AMERICAN GALLOWAY BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION, R. W. Brown, Secretary, Carrollton, Mo. AMERICAN HEREFORD BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION, R. J. Kinzer, Secretary, Kansas City, Mo. AMERICAN POLLED SHORTHORN BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION, J. W. Martz, Secretary, Greenville, Ohio. AMERICAN POLLED HEREFORD BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION, B. O. Gammon, Secretary, Des Moines, Iowa. RED POLLED CATTLE CLUB OF AMERICA, H. A. Martin, Secretary, . . Riphlantf Center* Wis. AMERICAN SHORTHORN BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION, ;)?i V* £fefci4ng; G^n'eVaJ Executive, . ' Uhion'Stoclc Tards, Chicago, 111. PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING By EDWARD N. WENT WORTH ARMOUR'S BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND ECONOMICS Assisted by V. H. MUNNECKE MANAGER ARMOUR AND COMPANY'S DRESSED BEEF DEPARTMENT and by JAMES BROWN IN CHARGE OF CATTLE BUYING FOR ARMOUR AND COMPANY ARMOUR'S BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND ECONOMICS R. J. H. DE LOACH. Director UNION STOCK YARDS, CHICAGO 1922 REQ. NO. 488304 \A/4 Copyright, iqio. Armour and Company • *•*. First Edition, June, 1920 Second Edition. February, iq Table of Contents PAGE INTRODUCTION, by James Brown 6 THE FUNCTION OF CATTLE q Position of Cattle in the System of Farming q Origin and Kinds of Cattle q CATTLE BREEDS 1 1 Breed Qualifications 1 1 The Purebred Animal 1 1 How the Purebred Developed 12 The Value of the Purebred 13 The Pedigree 14 CATTLE BREEDING 16 How Cattle Are Improved 16 Grading Up Beef Cattle 1 6 The Relative Influence of Sire and Dam 1 8 The Proportion of Purebred Cattle 1 8 Community Breeding iq The Distribution of the Breeds i q THE PRODUCTION OF BEEF CATTLE 22 Foundation Blood for Beef Production 22 The Problems of the Range Cattle Breeder 22 Buying Feeders 23 Feeding Equipment 23 Some Cattle Rations 25 Growing the Calf 27 The Advantage of Young Cattle 2q Gr" v / PAGE Essentials of a Complete Ration 30 Silage 31 Requisites of a Good Silo 32 Silo Capacities 32 MANAGEMENT OF THE BEEF HERD 35 Three Types of Cattle Farming 35 The Maintenance of the Breeding Herd 36 The Pasture 37 The Contents of the Hay Stack 37 Sanitation on the Farm 39 Cattle Diseases 40 The Cow and Her Calf 45 Gestation Table 46 THE CATTLE INDUSTRY 47 The United States' Position in Beef Production 47 The American Beef Export Trade 47 The Change in the Center of Beef Production 48 The Consumption of Beef 49 CATTLE PRICES 52 The Relation of the Market to the Feeding Business . 52 Why Markets Fluctuate 53 The Two Classes of Price Fluctuations 53 Seasonal Variations in Price 54 The Problem of Marketing Beef in All Seasons 55 Methods of Reaching the Most Favorable Markets . . 56 The Effect of Supply and Demand on Hoof Prices. . 57 THE BEEF CARCASS 59 The Relative Value of Carcass Cuts 59 Factors in Carcass Values 60 The Relation of Carcass Price to Hoof Price. . 61 PAGE MARKET CLASSES OF CATTLE 63 How Cattle Are Classified 63 How Cattle Are Graded 64 Characteristics of Different Grades and Classes of Beef Cattle and Butcher Stock 65 Grades and Classes of Feeders and Stockers 66 CATTLE TYPES 68 How Type Is Determined 68 Characteristics of the Standard Types of Beef Steer . . 69 Dressing Percent 69 MARKETING CATTLE 71 Preparations for Shipping 71 Shipping Counsel 71 Handling Cattle at the Market 73 Slaughtering Cattle 74 HIDES AND BYPRODUCTS 77 The Market Classification of Hides 77 Byproducts 8 1 REFERENCES 83 Introduction THE growing tendency among cattle feeders is to regard quality and finish in cattle as superfluous, due to the narrowing margin in price between the poorest kinds of cattle that reach the market and those of best grade. The majority of feeders can remember when such animals as canner cows had no value with the packer or retail butcher, and the increasing uses which have been found for them, sufficient to give quotable prices from day to day, have been inter- preted by these feeders to mean that quality no longer has the value it once enjoyed. Nothing could be further from the truth. Quality cattle will always be properly appraised, because they produce the class of. meat that is easiest to sell, requiring a minimum of effort on the part of the ultimate salesman. From year to year the standards as to market types and classes are changing, based on the changing demands of the consumer. The cattle feeder usually learns of these changes when he sells, and occasionally feels that the market asks for any kind of cattle other than what he brings. The chief difficulty in meeting exactly the market demands, lies in the fact that the standards of cattle of one or two decades ago still persist in the minds of many feeders and are perpetuated by the types of steers recognized by the majority of judges in the fat stock shows. Whether or not the feeder intends to do so, he carries in his mind the standard of perfection established by the heavy, richly finished bullocks popular twenty years ago, and he interprets the trimmer killing characteristics which modern cattle show, coupled with lesser size, as distinct steps backward. The chief factor in bringing about the change in type has been the change in retail demand. The public, while more fastidious as to the cuts of beef it consumes, does not eat as much meat as it did formerly, and will not tolerate the waste in cuts that the rich steaks and roasts of a half century ago possessed. The modifications in market standards are based on these two simple facts, and the trade must educate itself to the idea. The retailer has been most sensitive to this change in demand, but the reaction on the packer has been so direct that he has been forced to translate immediately the desires of the consumer into a type of cattle suitable for the produc- tion of the best selling cuts. The principal factors that have caused the change are the increase in the population of cities coupled with the reduced ratio of producers ; the inroads on the family purse made by luxuries, which have restricted the percentage spent on necessi- ties; and the reduced size of families which has permitted groceries with small meat shops vending pound to two-pound cuts to make deep inroads into the business of the specialized butcher. The demand for heavy cattle varies little throughout the year. The markets of the big cities, principally New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, supply the principal trade, the sales being largely to hotels and clubs that have a standard demand for certain cuts the year around. This natural demand for heavy finished cattle takes only about 1 5 per cent of the cattle on the market, their live weight being 1 300 pounds and up, and their carcasses making about 750 pounds of beef and up. In order that prices for this class of cattle remain steady and hold the same relative relation to other classes of cattle, the supply must be regular as a few too many can readily glut the market. Unfortunately, it is difficult to finish cattle of this sort at all seasons of the year ; few of them coming on the market in the period from August ist to February ist excepting cattle finished for shows and for the Christmas trade. From February on there is usually a sufficiency of this class of cattle, while late March and April may find a few too many with consequent drops in price. On the other hand, in times of scarcity of heavy cattle, buyers having orders, for this class of stock make competition so lively that steers weighing 1400 pounds or up which will satisfy their trade, often bring $i to $2 above their real value as compared to smaller cattle of the same grade. A judgment of values based on the price of this class of cattle either in times of scarcity or surplus, is bound to be misleading to the average feeder. The profit in beef production in the future will increasingly lie in quality stock. Early maturity and quick money turn-overs are certain to be the keynotes of future meat production, due to high land and feed values. Cold blooded stock will never utilize feed for fattening and finishing until the animals are well grown, three years old or over, while breeders and feeders will need to have their money back out of their animals by the time they are two years old, unless the cattle are range grown, when the difference in production costs will permit their profitable retention for another year. Fur- thermore, the value of well-bred cattle has been demonstrated during the first four years following the war by the fact that well finished yearlings have topped the market at all times for periods longer than a week in duration. During this time there has been a spread of fifty cents to two dollars per hundredweight between the year- lings and older cattle of the same quality. Only cattle high in the blood of the purebreds are capable of reaching this degree of finish in their yearling form. A six-months calf of good blood, dropped in the spring, can be fattened so as to be marketed the following spring or summer from any cornbelt farm, but a six-months scrub will not efficiently utilize its feed because its growth is slow, and it will not develop as rapidly, fatten as well, nor grow as satisfactorily as the well-bred animal. Well-bred calves can always be finished from calfhood on, and can make the best quality of carcass, since they can utilize efficiently feed that the scrub cannot consume econom- ically from lack of capacity or from inability to fatten or grow. The use of purebred sires is the certain means of success in the future. This does not mean the indiscriminate use of such animals without regard to results — prices paid for them must be always as firmly grounded in returns as prices paid for feeders — but it does indicate that through them the efficient beef production of the future must be built. Quality as recognized today means better meat for the consumer, better killing qualities for the packer, and more efficient feeders for the producer. People are not buying meat nowadays to throw part of it away, and the majority of fam- ilies with restricted pocketbooks are buying the medium weight cuts. The livestock market simply interprets the tendency of the meat-eating public and it recognizes that consumers will not tolerate waste except at a discount. — JAMES BROWN. PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART I. The Function Beef cattle are ' the Keystone- of' live Position of stock farming. They fit into the farm Cattle in the economy more perfectly than any System of other animal because they require less Farming labor for their care, they are less sub- ject to disease, they consume cheap roughages and high priced concentrates in proportions better suited to ordinary farm rotations, and their prod- uct is less subject to speculative and seasonal fluctuations than any other class of meat animals. Beef cattle take less fertility from the farm when they are marketed than any other major farm product. Grain can be sold for cash as can the better quality of hay, but low grade hay, cane, corn stalks, and pasture have a very limited and unremunerative market. The direct sale of any of them increases the costs in harvesting and marketing and reduces the producing value of the land to such an extent that few farmers can get a proper return for it. Cattle supply the necessary market for both crops and farm labor, and through manure retain or even increase the richness, mellowness, life and waterholding capacity of the soil. Cattle feeding is the ideal operation from the standpoint of permanence of farming, of acquiring a comprehensive farm equipment, and of fully employing farm labor the year around. Cattle were the first animals Origin and domesticated by man for purely agri- Kinds of cultural purposes. They were kept Cattle for their meat and hides only in the earlier times, but later were milked and still later used for draft purposes. Unfortunately the kind of cattle that are best for beef. are not best for Page Nine PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING milk or draft, and for many centuries cattlemen have selected their animals with these differences in mind. 'l:h T) c °rl 1 •£ H^ * ^^ TJ O •* i -E-S x Is0 8 1§ U CQ CEmu 1454 ( Queen Mother of four 10093 1 1 3 1 I^oo^l o £ x £ > Q >, • g - If fig ! 1 ! 1 5 : It ° J 1 B 3 i •£ 8 °^ 2^° < 2 .£ ^ 4) O" -^ >, :5 $ CQ CQ |l ' ••— v — J CQ CU CQ »-J fill c : •£ 1 |||| ^ • >•» <•* P J£ -^ ^ • "O • § •5 j? 0=j= 1 : 5 ! I iii- ^ O coo c •>„ fHJD <-> - co 't *^vS J -o S & & 2 U'~.S>.2 {Si! J 1 "S «u£ Oakville Quiet loq^^o u 1111 lit! Is III *£« Fifteen PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART III. Cattle Breeding Native cattle in any section of the How Cattle country have differed considerably Are Improved from the type which has come to be accepted as standard by American steer feeders. The general procedure by which the quality of this native stock has been improved has been through the grading up with sires of improved and purebred stock* These animals come from strains which have been selected for special beef purposes and in addition to possessing the desired type are usually able to transmit it to their off- spring. Despite the loyalty of the supporters of the different breeds to their favored stocks there is little difference in the ability of Shorthorns, Herefords, Aber- deen-Angus, and Galloways to transmit improved beef- making ability. Because the Aberdeen-Angus and Galloways happen to be black and polled their sup- porters have believed them to be more prepotent for grading purposes than some of the lighter colored animals but it is now known that these characteristics are inherited separately and have no relation necessarily to the trans- mission of fattening qualities and early maturity which are passed on as a result of their own merits. To grade up the stock of a locality Grading up means literally to use purebred bulls Beef Cattle on native cows generation after genera- tion. The characters which make a purebred valuable are thus transferred to the herd, the degree of transfer depending on the number of crosses of improved blood. For example: If a Hereford be crossed to Florida "piney- woods" cows, half of the inherited characters of the offspring are Hereford, the other half, "piney- woods." If to these crossbred heifers, Herefords Page Sixteen PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING are again mated, on the average three quarters of the traits inherited will be Hereford, and one quarter "piney- woods." This does not mean that any single individual is three-fourths Hereford, but only that the average of all characters in that generation is three-fourths Here- ford. As a matter of fact it is possible, although not probable, that some animals of the second cross might have entirely Hereford characters, with a similar number only half Hereford, and with the others intergrading be- tween, but the average would still be three-quarters Hereford or 75 percent. By continuing the use of Here- ford bulls for several generations, the proportion of Here- ford characters would be increased, while some of the characters would be pure Hereford, beginning with the second cross. The proportion of these pure characters would increase with each generation although not as rapidly as the total number of Hereford characters. The more that Hereford sires are used, the more likely the resulting grade dams will transmit Hereford traits, and the purer the characters of the new generations of calves will be. The average rate of increase in these characters is shown in the following table: One cross 50% Hereford traits. Two crosses 75% Hereford traits. Three crosses 87.5% Hereford traits. Four crosses 93-75% Hereford traits. Five crosses 96.875% Hereford traits. Six crosses 98.4375% Hereford traits And so on, each additional cross producing animals having a proportion of Hereford characters half way between the last generation and 100 percent. This does not apply to Herefords only but to any improved breed of livestock. Herefords are used simply for illustrative purposes. Some breeds seem to be more potent in trans- mitting their characters than others, but this is due to their possession of more noticeable characters than the Page Seventeen PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING others. For example the Aberdeen-Angus is black, a dominant color in inheritance no matter what breed of cattle it is found in, and polled, also a dominant character, hence it markedly affects the appearance of its calves. This is only in appearance, however, as other breeds are able to build up the iattening tendency just as rapidly. Neither sire nor dam transmits to The Relative their offspring all of the qualities Influence of which they possess, but on the average Sire and Dam each transmits only half. On this account it is highly important to have well bred bulls so that their contribution to the offspring will be more uniform. The cows of the herd always carry more widely divergent characters than it is pos- sible for any one bull to possess, hence their hereditary contribution to the calves will be very much more variable than the hereditary contribution of the bull. Therefore the old statement that the bull is half of the herd is cor- rect, but if we consider his power to make the herd uniform, we can really consider him as having more than a fifty percent influence. Purebred sires to increase the pro- The Proportion duction of better beef animals, provide of Purebred the most serious need of the live- Cattle stock industry at present. While the cattle producers of the cornbelt and of the range, in general realize the desirability of the better bred sires there are other sections of the country in which the real value of the improved type is not understood, and in which such campaigns as the Better Sire Movement are bound to bring first-class results. The 1920 Census reports 66,652,559 cattle on farms in the United States. Of this number only 3 percent, or 1,981,514 are purebred, and of these 1,064,912 are cattle of the beef breeds. Page Eighteen II. I PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING One means whereby this low per- Community centage of purebred animals can Breeding be more efficiently utilized is through the system of community or circuit breeding. If the farmers of a community organize to use one breed and exchange the sires either under a system of community ownership or by private sale to one another, additional years of service may be gotten out of high-class breeding bulls whose usefulness due to relationship to the females of the herd may be outlived in two or three years. Furthermore, the concentration of good cattle in a community will attract large numbers of purebred buyers and will give the market cattle shipped from the district a reputation among shippers and killers. Waukesha County, Wis., and Gage County, Neb., are well known examples of the advantage of co-operation between neighboring breeders. While supporters of the different The breeds of cattle try to claim all the Distribution good things in the beef category for of the Breeds their favorite breeds, the bulk of live- stock men have a feeling that it is not a question of breed merit for beef production but of the merit of the individual bull, cow or steer. Nevertheless the average run of the different breeds finds them defi- nitely adapted to certain types of farming and certain general conditions, although no breed can be considered exclusively to monopolize a certain region or a certain function. For example: the Hereford is particularly well adapted to the range country because of its ability to fatten on grass; the Shorthorn is well adapted to general farming because of its size, ready fattening and milking qualities; the Aberdeen-Angus is especially well adapted to cornbelt feed lots and baby beef production because of its early maturity and most excellent carcass qualities; the Red Poll, to the central west because of its Page Nineteen PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING dual purpose ability; the Galloway, to the north and the short grass country because of its hardiness; and the Polled Shorthorns and Polled Herefords to the same regions as the horned breeds where hornlessness com- mands a premium. While individuals of each breed may succeed where other breeds are especially adapted, yet there is little doubt as to the general utility of the dif- ferent breeds under the conditions described. The 1920 census gives the following distribution of purebred beef cattle by states, omitting i , 1 94 head of Devons. The breed was not reported for the 63,944 head of purebred beef cattle listed under "all others". Division and State United States i Total ,064,912. Aber- deen- Angus 108,524 Gallo- way 6 920 Here- ford 4O5 58O Polled Durhar 61 755 Short- n horn 416 995 All others 7 565 285 841 61 Maine New Hampshire. . . Vermont Massachusetts 2,519 I,Q06 1,209 1,186 63 ii 28 112 1.530 888 371 344 466 54 272 442 676 491 717 il 28 7 Rhode Island Connecticut Middle Atlantic New York New J ersey 68 677 8.341 2.148 93 71 688 248 12 23 23 64 I38 746 60 49 1,394 457 4 208 4,865 1,118 10 467 197 Pennsylvania East North Central . . Ohio Indiana Illinois Michigan Wisconsin West North Central.. Minnesota Iowa 6,101 167,471 25,502 29,509 73.584 16,267 22,610 532.252 56,028 1 5 1 ,359 428 20,6l3 2,642 4,807 10,106 J.5IQ i,539 63,023 5,398 27,457 94 94 5.323 175 286 686 30,242 3,229 6,615 16,370 1,825 2.203 179,155 10.787 40,894 937 10.928 1.542 1.183 3.147 1.067 3,989 20,488 2,415 5 475 3,676 97,40i 17,324 16,147 39.093 1 1,712 I3.I2J 230,693 32,419 69 560 260 8.122 765 757 4,702 144 1,754 33.570 4.834 7 687 Missouri North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Kansas 83,902 29,024 57,100 74.174 80665 12,916 3,124 4,788 4.640 4 7OO I,H4 183 697 411 2 457 32.609 7,089 21,663 27,418 38 695 2.309 1.359 3.162 3.420 2 348 30.517 14,723 23,293 32,777 4,437 2,546 3-497 5.508 South Atlantic Delaware 27,732 16 5,407 I 134 10,640 1. 121 8,651 1.572 Maryland Virginia 920 8 191 '35 I 121 62 1 06 2. 1 35 243 380 414 4 289 22 West Virginia North Carolina. . . . South Carolina. . . . Georgia Florida... 8,035 3.085 i, 680 4,397 1, 408 1 ,962 786 328 497 577 37 35 4.118 933 862 1,799 687 ?8o 156 3£ 226 1,709 73* 103 1.293 06 129 302 351 516 48 Page Twenty PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Division and State East South Central. Kentucky Tennessee Alabama Total 3^.341 10,864 i3.3iq 4.525 Aber- deen- Angus 8,460 1.706 3.799 883 Gallo- way Here- ford 12,623 4.375 4.084 '.524 Polled Durham 2,381 353 1.334 379 Short- horn 9.9io 3.536 3.286 1.508 All others 2,926 894 816 23 1 Mississippi West South Central . . Arkansas Louisiana . . . 7.634 138,075 6.536 3 083 2,072 5.687 893 3'3 qio 61 2,640 85,220 1.726 i 340 315 8.775 1.388 226 1,580 19.358 1.128 840 985 8,065 280 164 Oklahoma 38.713 1.876 3 '9 12,1 33 1,217 22.OI9 I I4O Texas Mountain 8q,743 1 1 6 1 88 2,605 530 436 70,021 5,944 4.371 6,272 Montana Idaho 19.543 15 238 9*7 295 1 98 10,699 1,291 5,621 6 298 780 6l4 Wyoming 1 1 845 Colorado 27,162 615 11 I I 7 270 I 1 66 6 989 New Mexico 1 7 400 14 563 Arizona 5.683 5 023 117 224 Utah 10 934 62 5 978 I 8O Nevada 3.769 15 2,422 682 617 33 Pacific 30 944 2 221 IO 355 6415 Washington Oregon 5.840 1 1, 860 263 776 935 4 182 1.008 1 307 3.281 3 758 353 g-,7 California... 11.244 I.I82 ?.2l8 1.IOO 1.OA< <*<: Page Twenty-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART IV. The Production of Beef Cattle The success of growing cattle for Foundation the market depends in a large degree Blood for Beef on the kind of calves that are pro- Production duced. Unless the right foundations in blood and type are laid, no amount of feeding by the professional feeder or skill in killing and cutting by the packer can make up for the original de- ficiency. Hence it is up to the breeder of feeding cattle to use the right kind of bulls and continually to breed up the females of his herd. Unless proper mating is made at the start, choice to prime steers are rarely, if ever, pro- duced. The producer of range cattle has The Problems many problems to face due to short- of the Range ages of feed and water, that make his Cattle Breeder questions of special importance. The chief difficulty to engage his attention is the prevention of deterioration in size, and he must constantly introduce heavy boned bulls to keep his stock from "running out." It is the belief of students of this situation that the chief remedy to be applied is not through breeding but through feed, since the range is an abnormal environment for cattle bred to excel under the conditions of Scotland, England and the American cornbelt. The deficiency seems to be in the concentrates, that is, the protein and mineral matter, and for this pur- pose legumes should be introduced wherever possible, such as lespedeza, alfalfa, or any other clovers that make a good start. To tide over the feed shortages of snow- bound winters and extra dry summers, it will pay the ranchman to grow corn, kafir, cane, sunflowers, or other crops that will make silage, and put them away in pit silos that can be dug at convenient spots for watering and feeding. These will be found very useful in ordinary seasons, and reserves may be maintained for three or four Page Twenty-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING years by keeping close watch for spoilage and using only the older silage. These may seem to involve a greater degree of extra work than the rancher would desire, but he must remember that only by the attention to such details as these, can he continue to make his business uniformly successful. The feeder buyer has the most Buying important job from the standpoint Feeders of profit and loss that is found in the cattle industry until the animals are finally bought for the kill. Few feeders realize the extreme importance of buying their animals at the right price. Fewer still realize the factors that determine feeder values. Until a few years ago feeder prices were deter- mined by the cost of finishing, and cattlemen could take more chances on coming out through the big end of the horn than they can nowadays. Since the outbreak of the war the price of feeds has been so variable and the demand for meat has been so fluctuating that at times the cheaper and lighter carcasses not salable in pre-war times have been taken at relatively very high prices. In addition to the reaction against waste in cuts, there is an actual increase in the willingness to eat unfinished meats, so the spread between the thin and finished animal which held in past years has been decidedly narrowed. This necessitates the closest possible study of finishing costs on the part of the feeder buyer, and the most careful supervision of the purchase of his stock. Feeder cattle not prudently bought can never make money, no matter how economically the feeding may be managed. The majority of feeders do not Feeding recognize the importance of well Equipment arranged dry sanitary lots for steer feeding, nor do they realize the inti- macy of the relation of conditions in the feedlot with the returns the steers are able to show.- It is important Page Twenty-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING from the standpoint of greatest efficiency in cattle feed- ing that not too many animals be confined in the same lot. The balance point as to numbers is determined by the rate at which the cattle gain and the increase in costs due to equipment and greater amount of labor. East of the Mississippi, the best results are obtained with from 30 to 45 steers in a lot, while farther west as many as 250 may be handled. The determining factors are the cost of labor and land as compared to the gains of the animals. The usual space required for steers has been found by experience to run about qo to 100 square feet per head, including shed covering which should allow 20 to 25 square feet each. Where feeding is to be con- ducted over a period of time hard surfaced lots should be maintained, the shed being open, but closed to the north, west and east. Concrete foundations prove most suit- able, but are too expensive in many sections of the Page Twenty-four PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING country. Well packed crushed rock, brick or tile dust, or other surfacing material may be used, the latter being disadvantageous for cleaning although permitting the cattle to keep out of the muck. Drainage for cattle lots is perhaps most essential, as when the water runs off, even dirt lots may be kept in fair condition. Feed racks should have sufficient frontage to care for all of the steers without crowding. This means that there should be 2^" to 3 feet front per steer. Some feeders have had considerable success in using a combination feed rack for grain and roughage as indicated in Fig. A in the accompanying illustration, while others have a separate trough for grain and silage with a rack for hay as shown in Fig. B. The combination rack is a little cheaper to construct, but the separate racks operate a little more satisfactorily from the free choice basis for the steer, since the animals have a better chance to balance indi- vidually their grain against their roughage. Many steers come gradually to have their respective places at the trough, and although they do not consume all the grain, they keep other steers away by remaining to eat silage or hay. Feeding troughs should always be cleaned after each feeding and kept scrupulously sweet. Salt should always be available, as it promotes the animal's thrift and increases his ability to consume feed. The great change in feed prices dur- Some Cattle ing and following the world war has Rations to a certain extent invalidated the standard rations proposed by the experiment stations. Each state is now conducting in- vestigations on the growing and feeding of cattle with cheap feeds, feeds that in smaller measure compete with human needs. This has limited very markedly the use of grains, so the following rations are composed of cheap and available feeds in the sections of the United States suggested : Page Twenty-five PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Section Growing Fattening Bluegrass Corn silage or Corn fodder Stalk Fields Straw stacks .5 Ibs. oilmeal or cotton- seed meal Bluegrass pasture Corn silage 25-30 Ibs. Clover or alfalfa hay 8-10 Ibs. All corn steers will eat Oilmeal or cottonseed Oilmeal or cottonseed meal 1-2 Ibs. Southeast Velvet bean fields Peanut hay in winter Cottonseed meal and hulls Bermuda grass pasture Corn silage 25-30 Ibs. Cottonseed meal 6-8 pounds or Velvet bean meal and cornstalk meal mixed all steers will eat Central west 3orn silage or Corn fodder or Stalk fields Straw stacks Corn 3 to 6 Ibs. in winter Oilmeal or cottonseed meal i to 2 Ibs. Bluegrass pasture Corn silage 25-30 Ibs. Alfalfa dry clover hay 8-10 Ibs. All corn steers will eat Oilmeal or cottonseed meal 1.5-2.5 Ibs. Northwest ^ange Drairie or legume hay Straw stacks Sunflower silage Beet pulp where availa- ble Damaged grains Peafields Legume hay Oilmeal 2-3 Ibs. Southwest ^ange Silage grain sorghum or Drairie or alfalfa hay Cottonseed meal in win- ter 2-3 Ibs. corn 25-30 Ibs. Cottonseed cake 5-6 Ibs. Alfalfa or prairie hay 8-10 Ibs. It is possible in some districts of the blue-grass section to substitute peanut meal and velvet bean meal for cottonseed meal, especially on farms possessing suitable grinders for this purpose. In the southeast section the main reliance in growing steers must be placed on cotton- seed meal and hulls; the velvet bean fields, the Bermuda grass pasture and the peanut vine hay supplementing in the periods when the cottonseed is not available. For fat- Page Twenty-six A draft, beef and milk type of France, Simmenthal-Fribourgeois cross. (See page 10.; A beef and milk type, the champion Red Polled cow "Constant' (See page 10.) PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING tening, the meal produced by grinding the entire velvet bean plant and the entire corn plant, gives a bulky and nutritious feed which the steer can use profitably up to the physical limits of its consumption. The northwest presents two distinct problems, the range problem and the small farm problem. The small farmer has a variety of products available for cattle growing, but the range producer is limited to the grass of his acres and prairie hay, silage or straw in the winter. Success in growing cattle for market Growing depends upon two things, the breed- Ihe Calf ing of the calf and the start in life the calf receives. When calves are intended for straight beef production only a small quan- tity of feed in addition to milk is necessary up to weaning time, but they should be taught to eat supplemental feeds during this period to prevent a set back when milk no longer is furnished. The amount of dry feeds consumed will be limited at first but should be increased gradually until the calf no longer needs milk when six to eight months old. Calves intended for baby beef should begin on grain when four to six months old, a mixture of equal parts ground by weight of corn, oats, and wheat bran is good to start with, and after the calves have become accustomed to it, it may be fed whole. There is less danger of digestive disturbance and scours when the corn and oats are whole than when ground. The grain allowance should be increased gradually so that weaning time will not provide a set-back to the calves. From then on calves intended for baby beef should be kept on full feed. The following rations may prove suitable in different sections of the country: RATION No. i Corn 10 Ibs. Cottonseed Meal 2 Ibs. Clover Hay 3 Ibs. Silage : 12 Ibs. Page Twenty-seven PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Oil meal and alfalfa may be substituted for cotton- seed meal and clover, and calves may be allowed all the straw they will eat. RATION No. 2 Corn 6 Ibs. Cottonseed Meal 3 Ibs. Legume Hay 10 Ibs. Straw No limit RATION No. 3 Kafir or Milo 12 Ibs. Cottonseed Meal 2>£ Ibs. Silage 12 Ibs. RATION No. 4 Barley or Broken Wheat 10 Ibs. Roots 10 Ibs. Alfalfa Hay 6 Ibs. Coarse Hay No limit In the foregoing rations oil meal may always be sub- stituted for cottonseed meal, barley or kafir for corn, and any of the legume hays (alfalfa, clover, velvet bean, cowpea, soybean, lespedeza or peanut vine) for any other. It is important that the feed of the growing steer calf contain plenty of protein and mineral matter, hence such feeds as clover, alfalfa, and silage should be given in abundance with some oats, and cottonseed or linseed meal. Calves that are to be fed out as long yearlings or two-year-olds, or to be sold as stockers at a year old, may be fed quite largely the first winter on cheap rough- ages but it pays to give small amounts of concentrates in order to keep the calves growing in a thrifty condition. It is highly important that calves be castrated when young, usually at six to eight weeks of age, because there is less danger of checking growth. The object of this is to prevent reproduction, to increase the fattening pro- pensity, to make the animal easier to handle, and to Page Twenty-eight PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING improve the quality of the meat. One of the greatest dangers to livestock improvement comes from permitting calves with only one or two crosses of improved blood to grow into bulls, thus replacing well bred bulls on farms and ranches. In order to insure success in castration, one must carefully wash and disinfect the hands and instruments before operating and the wound after opera- tion, must make a large free opening to permit good drainage and prevent pus accumulations in the wound and must permit the calf plenty of exercise to keep the swelling down. Calves turned to pasture immediately after the operation recover more quickly than those con- fined to the stable, since the chances of infection are less. If calves are to be turned off as veals it is not necessary to castrate and they should be pushed along with skimmed milk, flax-seed meal and such other feeds as they can learn to consume, until they are six to twelve weeks old and fat enough to market. Great care must be taken to see that the skimmed milk is sweet and not fed in dirty receptacles, as the digestive system of the calf may be deranged and scours or some other ailment result. Very few calves of beef breeding are killed as veals, the majority of such calves coming from milking herds. There are certain general principles The Advantage connected with the feeding of cattle of Young that each farmer should bear in mind. Cattle The younger the animal the cheaper the gain. The older the feeder the easier to fatten. The older the cattle the greater the proportion of roughage consumed. The older the cattle the less the labor and shelter required. The greater the abundance of pasture and cheap feeds and the more limited the fattening feeds, the greater the profit in marketing cattle as stockers and feeders. Page Twenty-nine PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Older cattle digest their feed less closely than young cattle, and both digest whole grain less closely than ground grain. The more limited the feeding space and the greater the supply of concentrates, the greater the opportunity for hogs to follow cattle. One pig weighing seventy to eighty pounds should be allowed for three steers. After all the big problem in feeding Essentials of is to satisfy the requirements of the a Complete animal, and a study of the require- Ration ments is necessary in order to feed scientifically and economically. Gen- erally speaking the needs of the animal may be grouped under four heads: Growth, energy, fattening, and health regulation. Growth is dependent on the nitrogenous sub- stances in the feed, and is supplied by such feeds as bran, milk, cottonseed meal, linseed meal, gluten feed, cowpeas, soybeans, alfalfa, and clover. Feeds which supply energy consist mainly of carbohydrates and fats, and are furnished by corn, barley, wheat, rye, prairie hay, straw, fodders, silage, grass, etc. Fattening powers are furnished by the same feeds as those that supply energy. At one time it was supposed that a simple estimate of the amounts of these feeds that would furnish a well balanced diet was sufficient in order to have successful results in feed- ing, but it is now known that there are certain ingredients of the ration that have only a slight food value, but that promote the utilization of the feed and the general health of the animal. Foremost among these may be mentioned mineral matter, such as salt, lime, etc., which is known to be essential to successful feeding, but there is another class of substances known as vitamines found in certain fats and proteins that promote the body processes in much the same way that lubricating oil promotes the work of the tractor without contributing to the energy Page Thirty PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING that runs it. This is found in the hulls of cereals, cottonseed, flaxseed, timothy, some roots and alfalfa and clover hays. Corn is notoriously lacking in some of these substances, and animals fed corn alone get the "burned-out" appearance due to the lack of certain of these essential compounds in the feeds. Except for these health promoting substances however, one feed in a certain class may be substituted for another, according to cheapness in a given community, as bran for linseed meal or cottonseed meal, and kafir for corn or barley. Because of this possibility of substitution it is important that the feeder should £.ady feed values, as only by such a system can he make a business-like profit on his feeding operations. One of the most important feeds Silage from the standpoint of health pro- motion is silage, which provides the steer and growing animal with succulent green feed the year around. While corn is pre-eminently the best silage plant, kafir, sunflowers, cane, oats and peas, alfalfa, and soybeans with oats make a very desirable product. The principles involved in ensiling feeds are manifold: in general fermentations change the sugars of the plant to acids, and preserve the total food value more perfectly than any other method of feed preservation. If there is a shortage of starches and sugars as in alfalfa, peas and beans, it must be made up by mixing corn, cane, oats, rye, or some similar agent. Molasses has been used satisfactorily where cheap enough, being sprinkled over the green legume as it goes through the silage cutter. The two most important provisions in silage making are the presence of these sugars and the exclusion of air. I f too much air is present, the silage putrefies, hence one must be careful to tramp such crops as oats very carefully in order to drive the air from the hollow stems. There are six distinct advantages from ensiling crops. The relative expense is low ($2.50 Page Thirty-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING to $7.50 a ton, depending on investment in silo and machinery and labor conditions), it can be made available for any season of the year, less of the feed value is wasted, it is eaten with practically no waste, the weather handi- caps the making of silage less than putting the crop up in any other form, it makes weeds available for feed if mixed with the silage crop, and it can be stored in less space than the same feed dry, in the ratio of 2 to 5 as far as food value is concerned. The requisites of a good silo are: Requisites of i — airtight walls; 2 — cylindrical shape a Good Silo (to prevent corners which fill improp- erly) ; 3— smooth, strong, perpendicular walls (to prevent air pockets) ; and 4 — depth (to give pressure on the mass of fermenting feed, to reduce the percentage loss through fermentation of top layers before they can be fed, and to reduce the loss of food nutrients, which are greatest in upper part) . Silos may be made of staves, brick, hollow tile, concrete, stone or steel. Pit silos with cement lining and concrete curb may be used in arid and semi-arid climates, but the material used anywhere for structure depends upon local conditions. See illustration opposite page 42. The diameter of a silo to be erected Silo should be determined from the number Capacities of animals to be fed, the idea being to feed about two inches of silage off the top to prevent spoilage. The minimum amount to be fed daily, to attain this depth of feeding, is shown in the following table, allowing twenty-five pounds per head: Diameter of Silo Minimum Amount of Silage Number Head 10 feet 520 pounds 21 11 feet 625 pounds 25 '12 feet 745 pounds 30 14 feet 1,015 pounds 41 1 6 feet 1,325 pounds 53 Page Thirty-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Diameter of Silo Minimum Amount of Silage Number Head 1 8 feet i, 680 pounds 67 20 feet 2, 075 pounds 83 22 feet 2, 510 pounds 100 24 feet 2,985 pounds uq 26 feet 3,505 pounds 140 The following table shows the capacity of silos of differ- ent heights and diameters: Depth of Diameter of silo, in feet silage, feet 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 i 2 3 tons 6 1.3 21 2 9 tons i .0 i .9 3.0 4.2 5 4 6.7 8.1 9.6 I I .2 12.8 14-5 16.3 18.1 20. o 22. 0 24-0 26.1 28.3 30.5 32.8 35-1 37-5 40.0 42.5 45.2 47-7 50.3 53-0 55-8 58.5 61.3 64.1 67.0 69.8 tons 1 .2 2.6 4.2 5.7 7-4 9.2 ii . i 13. i 15.2 17-4 19-7 22.1 24-6 27-1 29.9 3^-7 35-5 38.5 41-5 44-6 47-8 51 - I 54-4 57-8 61.3 64.8 68.4 72. i 75-8 79-5 83.4 87.2 91. I 95. 1 99. I 103.2 107.2 111.3 115. 5 1 19.0 123.8 128.2 tons 1.6 3-4 5-3 7-4 9-7 12. O 14-5 17.1 19.8 22.7 15.7 28.9 32.2 35.5 39.1 42.7 46.4 50.3 54-1 58.3 62.5 66.7 71.8 75-5 80.0 84.6 89-3 94- I 98.9 103.8 108.8 113.8 118.9 124.2 129.3 134-7 I39-Q 145-3 150.8 156.2 161 . 7 167.4 172.9 178.6 tons 2.1 4-3 6.7 9-4 12.2 15-1 18.3 21.6 25.1 28.8 32.6 36.6 40.7 45-0 4Q-4 54-0 58.8 63.6 68.6 73-8 79- I 84.5 9O.O 95-5 101 . 3 107.2 113.2 119.2 125.4 131.6 137-9 144.5 150.8 157-4 163.9 170.7 177-4 184.2 191 -T- I98.I 205.1 212. I 219.2 . 226. 1 tons 2.5 J:| ii. 6 15.0 18.7 22.6 26.7 31.0 35-5 40.3 45.2 50.2 55-5 61 .0 66.7 7^.5 78.5 84.8 91 . i 97-5 104.2 i ii . i 118.0 125. i 132.3 139.6 147- 1 154-6 162.3 170. i 178.0 186.0 194-1 2O2. 2 2IO.6 218.8 227-2 235-8 244.3 252.9 261.6 270.2 270. I tons 3-1 6.4 IO. I 14.0 18.2 22.6 17.3 32.3 37.6 43-0 48-7 54-6 60.7 67.2 73-8 80.6 87.7 95.0 102.6 I IO.2 IlS.O 126. I 134-4 14^-7 I5I-2 160.0 168.8 177-8 187.0 196.3 205.8 215.2 225.0 234.8 244-6 254.8 264.8 275-0 285.4 295.6 305.8 316.3 326.9 117.6 5 b 3-8 4-7 5-6 6.7 7-8 8.8 IO. I II 3 7 8 9 1.0 II I 2, 13 14 12-5 139 15 151 16.8 18 i 16 17 18 19 19.6 21 2 20 21 22.8 . . . 24 4 22 26.0 23 24 27. I 29 5 25 26 27 28 29 31-3 33-1 34-9 36.8 38.7 30 3 i 40 . 6 31 33 34 35 36 37. .. 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 . . Page Thirty-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Depth of silage, feet Diameter of silo, in feet 10 \i 14 16 18 2O 22 45 tons tons tons tons 184 2 tons tons 288 o tons 348 4 46 IQO.O 240. C) 2Q7 . I 359-4 47 IQ5 8 248 2 306 2 370 4 48 20 1 8 381 4 207 7 263 2 324 O 3Q2 5 ?o. . . 211.6 270.8 333. Q 4O3. 7 It should be kept in mind that it is not the height of the silo but the depth of silage when filling is completed to which reference is made. Also it is assumed that the silage is well tramped and that it has been allowed to settle one day, after which the silo is refilled. When the condition of the corn as put into the silo is average, the above table should be used as given. If the corn is unusually dry, deduct 10 percent. If the silo is filled rapidly and no time is allowed for settling also deduct 10 percent. Page Thirty-four A tile silo representative of one of the many types of permanent construction adopted throughout the country. W I r»ir*M *: PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART V. Management of the Beef Herd There are three systems of handling Three Types beef-bred herds in common usage in of Cattle the United States. The straight beef Farming system in which the steers are grown out as cheaply as possible is adapted to regions where pasture is plentiful and cheap and is practiced more widely in United States than any other method of beef production. The dual purpose system is used more commonly in the general farming states although up to the present it is not more popular than the straight beef system if the numbers practicing it be any criterion. In this system the cows are milked and the calves are raised on skimmed milk and supplemental feeds. The dual purpose calves as a rule are not as economical beef producers as the straight beef calves but when grown out and fattened they frequently make very acceptable beef. The dual purpose system is com- mendable only when adhered to properly, and is likely to be quite unsuccessful if it is attempted to turn the beef animals into a dairy herd. The baby beef system is a highly specialized method and is adapted to such districts as the cornbelt where there is a good supply of feeds for fattening and sufficient pasture for the summer maintenance of the breeding cows with their calves. While it requires a little more equipment to handle the herd the best market prices can be obtained in baby beef as well as in the dual purpose systems, if the calves are dropped in the fall and finished to market in the summer and early fall. If calves are dropped in the spring they should come late in February, March or early April, but if they come in the fall, late August, September and early October are preferable. The Page Thirty-five PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING question as to the better time can be settled only by a study of individual farm conditions, taking into con- sideration the equipment, labor, pasture and feed supply. Cows raised for the production of The Maintenance calves only, can be fed very cheaply of the during the biggest portion of the year Breeding Herd by using silage and dry roughages combined with a small quantity of such feed rich in protein as oilmeal or cottonseed meal. If clover or alfalfa hay is available, these may be omitted except during the periods immediately following calving and for two weeks before breeding. Such cows do not require anything more than open shelter except at calving time, when they must be placed separate from the rest of the herd. If fall calving is practiced little shelter for the cow at parturition is required, but if the calves come in February, March and April, both dam and off- spring must be sheltered from the extremes that some- times occur at that season of the year. The purchase of feeds for breeding cows should not be discouraged when necessary, since a suitable purchase may be more than repaid in the additional growth of the calf. Suc- cessful cattle raisers must grow the necessary roughages however, and for this part of the ration can well adopt the slogan "Grow all you feed and feed all you grow." In the summer the cow herd will be maintained largely on pasture but if the pastures are short supplements must be provided. Silage is the best agent for this but if not available dry roughage such as hay or green forage crops should be provided. After harvest, the cows can be maintained for a time on the stubble and grass growth in the fields, in fact some men plant clover or other crops which will develop after harvest for this very purpose. In the South, velvet beans may be utilized for the pasture of fall and early winter while farther north the stalk fields are available. In the winter hay and silage will provide the main dependence but when protein feeds are nec- Page Thirty-six PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING essary from one to two pounds of linseed or cottonseed cake may be fed. The fundamental requirement for The Pasture economical beef cattle production is plentiful and permanent pasture. In the cornbelt, bluegrass pasture has proved to be the most satisfactory permanent proposition, but white clover mixtures make a little richer feed of it. From a temporary standpoint good returns may be obtained from mixed timothy and red clover while in shaded areas orchard grass and red top should be used. In the range country native grasses have been found superior to anything seeded, but care must be taken not to overstock them or both variety and amount of herbage are lost. Considerable success has been found in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma by restricting the pasturage on certain areas and seeding the remainder in order to renew the growth. The farmer who feels that his pasture is deserving of a little investment and care will find the distribution of suitable fertilizers will promote the growth of grass very decidedly. Advice as to the kind of fertilizer or the amounts should be obtained from the state experiment station or from the county agri- cultural agent. In the South, Bermuda grass and les- pedeza have been found highly resistant to drouth and their use in southwestern states may possibly be extended. The farmer must remember that while the grasses are natural in most of the sections of America, they are not spontaneous under heavy systems of pasturage, and discing, seeding, and occasional fertilizing are necessary to obtain the greatest returns. Hay provides the winter substitute The Contents of for pasturage on most farms. The the Hay Stack successful farmer will calculate the amount of hay he needs to carry his cattle through the winter, allowing from ten to sixteen pounds per head, per day, depending on .the availability of Page Thirty-seven PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING such other feeds as straw, corn stalks, and silage. In order to calculate this it is desirable for him to know how to determine the number of tons of hay in the stack. The ordinary method of determining this is first to find the volume of the stack in cubic feet and then to Peaked stack Arerage Btack. Full, stack IF HEIGHT, IS THREE-FOURTHS OF WIDTH. Kew hay Did hay New hay 2107 Old hay 1857 New hay 1903 Old hay 1678 IF HEIGHT EQUALS WIDTH. Hew hay Old hay 2107 1857 Mew hay 1903 Old hay 1678 New hay 1714 Old hay 1529 IF HEIGHT IS ONE-FOURTH GREATER THAN WIDTH. Hew hay Old hay 190? , 1678, New hay 1714 Old hay 1529 Old hay 1405 To determine contents of hay stack multiply length by width by over to obtain cubic feet and divide by the num- ber indicated above in order to obtain the number tons. Page Thirty-eight PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING transform it to tons. To determine this the farmer will measure the width and length of the stack and then get the distance from the ground on one side to the ground on the other at a point which is about the average height of the stack. Having obtained these three figures for width length and over, they are multiplied together and divided by the figures shown in the accompanying diagram depending on the shape of the stack and the length of time the hay has been in the stack. The resultant figure will give the number of tons of hay in the stack. One of the most important factors Sanitation on in success with beef cattle is the the Farm health of the herd. The cheapest way in the long run to safeguard the breed- ing animals is by the prevention of disease and sanitation. Every cattleman should provide himself with an isolation shed and pen to which sick animals can be taken. This will secure privacy and rest for the animals and in addi- tion will limit the spread of contagious or infectious disease. After a diseased animal has been removed from this lot all straw and manure not exposed to the sunlight and wind should be carefully burned and the shed^and feed troughs should be disinfected, either with lime or a spray. Special care should be taken to provide bright, clean, sanitary quarters for calving as a step taken in time here may prevent serious losses later due to hemorrhagic septicemia, scours, sore eyes, snuffles, and various other calf diseases. Feed troughs, water tanks, and other places where cattle commonly come in contact with each other should be kept scrupulously clean and should be disinfected frequently. f Page Thirty-mnt PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Some of the commonest diseases Cattle which American cattlemen have to Diseases face are lump jaw, blackleg, contagious abortion, foot and mouth disease, foot rot, hemorrhagic septicemia and tuberculosis, while the following are the commonest parasites which have to be combated ; Texas fever tick, lice, screw worms, ox warble and mange. LUMP JAW. Lump jaw is a chronic non-infectious disease that affects the jaws of cattle and the udders of swine. It is caused by a fungus that is frequently found on barley beards, oat stubble and various grasses, although it does not grow outside of the animal body. It appears as a hard tumor-like swelling on the jaw in the early stages of the disease, but later becomes ulcerated from the inside, causing slobbering and difficulty in chewing. The animal becomes emaciated and frequently starves to death. The most satisfactory way to handle the animal is to begin fattening it at the first signs of disease and ship to market before the affection becomes too marked. Such animals are subjected to rigid examination after death and if the disease is localized in the head the animal is passed as fit for food. BLACKLEG. This is a highly contagious disease that affects cattle between the ages of six and twenty-four months. It is usually fatal in the course of twelve to thirty-six hours after the animal first shows signs of sickness. However, the animal may have been infected from three to five days previous to the first symptoms. The animal shows a high fever, loss of appetite and great depression, while it usually stops chewing its cud in the very earliest stages. Swellings appear over the heavily muscled parts of the body and if one strokes the skin in these parts a distinct crackling is heard and felt. There is no satisfactory remedy and the best method is preven- Paie Forty PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING tive treatment by means of vaccination. The losses following this are less than one-half of i percent. CONTAGIOUS ABORTION. This is a chronic and highly insidious disease that is confined to the organs of repro- duction and is probably the most widely spread disease in cattle. It is caused by a specific germ which is more likely to infect heifers than cows and which seldom affects the bull. During the early months after breeding the animal appears normal but the calf may be born from three to five months prematurely. Some cows may be- come "carriers" of the disease without themselves being sick. Skilled veterinarians are required to recognize these animals by means of blood tests. The only treat- ment possible is preventive. Immediately after the animal aborts all of the litter should be disposed of by burning and the stable floor should be disinfected with a strong liquid. The cow should be douched with a i per- cent solution of salt at blood temperature to prevent the accumulation of pus. Some investigators at present urge the use of a vaccine, but this has not yet been standardized. FOOT-AND-MOUTH-DISEASE. Although this disease is not common in America, there have been several serious scourges from it, the last in the years 1914-15. It affects cattle worse than other stock and the mortality ranges from i to 3 percent. The disease opens with a moderate fever and the appearance of blisters in the mouth and between the hoofs. A profuse flow of saliva is stimulated which hangs from the mouth in viscid ropes. No attempt is made to treat the disease in the United States and infected animals are immediately slaughtered. FOOT ROT. Cattle that are forced to stand in filthy lots occasionally suffer from a contagious hoof disease known as foot rot. The animals become lame, develop a hot and painful swelling around the hoof and lose their appetite and flesh. The "proud flesh" which appears must be trimmed away, the pus tracts drained and a dis- Page Forty-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING infectant applied. In cattle the best remedy is pine tar held in place by a bandage passed between the claws and tied around the pastern. HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. This disease runs a short course in cattle that frequently ends in death and affects calves more commonly than older animals. The method of infection is not known although cattle on pasture are less likely to be affected than those under confinement. The animals refuse feed, exhibit a severe fever, show difficulty in breathing and develop swellings in the throat and brisket. When the intestines are affected the animals show signs of colic and pass bloody manure. Once the disease is developed medicines are useless, hence efforts are directed toward preventing the spread to other animals. All unaffected animals should be removed to fresh quarters and vaccinated, and the infected buildings and lots disinfected. TUBERCULOSIS. This is one of the most serious diseases affecting cattle because of the possibility of its transmis- sion to man. It is readily transmitted to hogs following cattle, in many cases as high as 25 percent being rendered unfit for food. The disease is so named because small tubercles form in the internal organs. Infection is ususally spread by eating food or drinking fluids con- taminated by the discharges from infected animals. Frequently animals severely afflicted with the disease show no signs of it externally. If the lungs are affected there may be a cough and difficulty in breathing, while if the intestines are involved, a chronic diarrhea is present. The common test for the presence of tuberculosis is the injection test with tuberculin. The animal shows a marked rise in temperature a few hours after injection if affected with the disease. There are also tests used known as the eye test and the tail test. The former, or opthalmic test, consists of placing a small disc or tablet of concentrated tuberculin under the upper lid of the eye Page Forty-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING and let it dissolve. In four, five or six hours later another tablet is put in the same eye. If the animal has tuber- culosis the water runs from the eye very freely and in a short time this water changes into pus. The discharge continues for a few hours, after which the eye clears up and returns to its former condition. The tail or intra- dermal test consists of the injection of a drop of tuber- culin into the fold on the under part of the tail near the root. This injection is made into the skin but not through it. If the animal is affected with tuberculosis a round swelling, ranging from three-eighths inch to an inch in diameter will appear in about 72 hours. If no swelling appears the animal is free of the disease. Treat- ment is unsatisfactory and the only practicable method known is the preventive one which removes all infected animals and utilizes sanitary methods. In 1921 at 10 Armour plants there were 4,728 cattle retained by the Government for further inspection because of suspected tuberculosis. Of this number, 76.48 percent were con- demned as inedible. In 1920 there were 6,577 cattle retained at these same 10 plants, of which 76.73 percent were condemned as inedible. TEXAS FEVER TICK. Only a few years ago this pest was prevalent throughout the southern states, but is being rapidly eradicated by means of the quarantine. In early 1922 there were only 206,015 square miles of terri- tory under quarantine as compared with 735,768 square miles placed under quarantine at the time of the establish- ment of the Texas fever quarantine line in i8qi. The ill effects of the tick come through the injury to the cattle in sucking their blood and infecting them with the germs of a disease that results in high fever and occasionally death. The vitality of most infected animals is so low that they are not profitable to handle. The most suc- cessful means of getting rid of the tick is by periodic dipping. Page Forty-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING CATTLE LICE. These parasites do the most damage in the winter months and are more likely to infect thin cattle than fleshy ones. They can best be disposed of by dipping in the fall before cold weather sets in, followed by a second dipping seven to ten days later to kill any lice hatching after the first treatment. SCREW WORMS. During hot weather screw worms may appear in wounds, cuts or sores, as a result of eggs laid in these parts by a fly. The most effective treatment is to open the wounds, to wash them with gasoline, and to daub them with pine tar. WARBLES. The ox warble is a grub which develops under the skin in late winter or early spring, bores a hole through it, and drops to the ground where it hatches into a fly. There are no preventive measures known but the grubs ready to drop from the animal should be squeezed out and destroyed and those not quite ready to emerge should be dislodged with a sharp knife. MANGE. Mange is caused by a small mite that attacks the skin, causing it to become scurvy. It spreads from one animal to another by contact and can be remedied by dipping or spraying. Pate Forty-four PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING RING WORM. This disease is quite similar to mange but causes circular patches on the skin instead of a general infection. It is most common during the winter and spring and is usually found on the heads and necks, although it may affect any part of the body. It causes severe itching and is remedied with iodine and nitrate of mercury ointment. Stables should be disinfected. As a general practice it is advisable The Cow and to provide quarters for calving even Her Calf though it may not be necessary to use them ordinarily. The average breeding cow needs little assistance if she is in a vigorous, healthy condition, nor do most calves, but there are many that die which would have lived if assistance had been available at the proper time. As soon as the calf is born all membranes should be removed from the mouth and nose and if the calf is not strong, a slight pull on the tongue and pressure in the ribs may stimulate breathing. The cow should be allowed to dry the calf herself and to give it its first care, although the calf may need assistance the first time to find the udder. The calf should always receive the first milk from the udder unless the cow is feverish and her udder inflamed, since it acts as a mild purgative. Clean, sanitary quarters are a distinct asset to any breeding farm. For convenience in determining the Gestation time the cow is due to calve, the time Table of service being known, a gestation table is given on page 46, by the use of which it is very easy to determine the approximate calving date. It will assist in keeping accurate breeding records. Page Forty-five PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Gestation Table for Cows (283 Days) EXPLANATION: Find date cow was bred in first column and month bred in top line. The date in column below opposite date bred will be the time at which the cow is due to calve. Mo. Bred JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. Nov. DEC. •SB* Bred Date Due to Calve OCT. Nov. DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. , ii ii Q Q 8 1 1 IO ii n 1 1 1 1 IO i 11 ii 10 IO q ii ii ii ii 11 ii n 3 13 13 II II IO 13 11 13 13 13 13 ii 4 14 14 11 11 1 1 14 13 14 14 14 14 13 5 i ^ 15 13 13 11 15 14 15 15 15 15 14 6 16 16 14 14 13 16 15 16 It 16 16 15 7 17 17 15 15 14 17 16 17 17 17 17 16 8 18 18 16 16 15 18 17 ii 18 18 It 17 Q IQ IQ 17 17 16 IQ 18 IQ IQ IQ IQ 18 10 10 IO 18 18 17 10 IQ IO 10 10 10 IQ 11 ii ii IQ IQ 18 ii 10 11 ii ii ii 10 11 11 11 10 10 IQ 11 ii 11 11 11 li ii 13 23 23 ii ii 10 23 11 23 23 23 23 11 14 14 24 11 11 ii 24 23 14 24 24 24 23 X 17 11 27 25 16 27 23 14 25 24 25 11 23 24 2 27 24 li 2 27 25 16 17 25 16 27 25 16 27 24 2 18 18 18 16 16 18 27 28 18 28 18 27 IQ 2Q IQ 27 27 26 2Q 18 2Q iq iq iq 18 10 ii 11 30 KT 3I Nov. i Dec'? 1 18 iq 30 18 iq 30 17 18 Mar. i 30 Apr. i 2Q 30 May i 30 . 31 June i July i 1 30 . 31 Aug. i 30 Sept'.! iq ^ 3° Oct. i 23 i 3 31 31 i i i i 3 i 1 i 24 3 4 Jan'i Feb i 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 25 16 4 5 5 6 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 6 4 5 4 5 4 5 27 6 7 4 4 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 28 7 8 5 5 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 iq 8 6 6 8 8 8 8 Q 8 8 8 30 q 7 7 Q q q q 10 q q q 10 8 10 IO 10 10 10 Page Forty-fix PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART VI The Cattle Industry As a producer of beef the United The United States leads the world. The Census States Position of January i, 1920, reports 66,652,559 in Beef cattle, of which 35,424,458 were beef Production animals. These exceeded the nearest competitive beef country by 44 per- cent. For the present, the relative figures on cattle, including milk and draft animals as well as beef, were given as follows by the U. S. Department of Agriculture : India 142,567,000 United States 66,653,000 Brazil 37,500,000 Argentina 27,392,000 Germany 16,904,000 France 12,374,000 Australia 1 1 ,040,000 Canada 9,477,000 Uruguay 7,803,000 Not all these countries are meat surplus countries, however, as many of them consume more than they pro- duce. The eight principal meat export countries are Argentina, United States, Australia, Uruguay, New Zea- land, Brazil, Canada, and British South Africa. During the war America exported The American large quantities of beef which per- Beef Export mitted high prices to the producer. Trade During the five years 1910-1914 the average exports of beef products totaled 80,000,000 pounds, while during the five years Page h'orty-seven PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING of war, 10,15-1919, the average exports were 421,000,000 pounds, an increase of approximately 526 percent. During times of peace the export trade is a very minor factor in supporting beef prices. In the past 14 years, according to the U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry, we have exported the following percentage of our annual beef Crop: Total beef Total beef Percent beef production exports exported 1907 7,31O,OOO,OOO 352,000,000 4.80 1908 6,676,000,000 228,000,000 3 .41 1909 7,071,000,000 163,000,000 2.03 1910 7,323,000,000 110,000,000 1.50 1911 7,036,000,000 92,000,000 i . 30 1911 6,509,000,000 56,000,000 .86 1913 5,913,000,000 47,000,000 .79 1914 5,639,000,000 95,000,000 '1.68 1915 5,816,000,000 399,000,000 6.86 1916 6,118,000,000 287,000,000 4.69 1917 6,686,000,000 376,000,000 5 .62 1918 7,641,000,000 728,000,000 Q-53 1919 6,571,000,000 314,000,000 4.78 1 920 6, 1 1 1 ,000,000 1 64,000,000 2 . 68 The war increased the percentage of our beef exports almost six times, the average for the first four years preceding the war being i . 1 6 percent, while for the four war years it was 6.67 percent. If one compares the calendar years 1918, 1919 and 1920, one factor in the dropping beef prices of that period becomes apparent, for exports of 728,000,000 pounds in 1918 drop to 3 14,000,000 pounds in 1919, and 164,000,000 pounds in 1920. It is difficult to say just where the percentage of exports becomes large enough to be important, economic and political conditions having greater effect on prices per- haps than any mathematical relation. In 1840 the center of production of all cattle was about ten miles *>uth of SPencer' West Virginia< and about 50 miles north of Charles- ton, the capital. At this time no distinction was made in the census between milk and "other" cattle. Dur- Poge Forty-eight PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING ing the succeeding years the changes in the center of beef cattle, dairy cattle and all cattle were as follows : Beef Cattle Dairy Cattle All Cattle 1850 Richmond, Ky. Crown Center, O. Morehead, Ky. 1860 Lowes, Ky. Independence, Ky. Henderson, Ky. 1870 Bixby, Mo. Liberty, Ind. Fairfield, 111. 1880 Vienna, Mo. Greencastle, Ind. Greenville, 111. 1890 Creighton, Mo. Oakland, 111. Jefferson City, Mo. 1900 Waverly, Kan. Urbana, 111. Lamonte, Mo. 1910 Eskridge, Kan. Clinton, 111. Marshall, Mo. 1920 Ellsworth, Kan. London Mills, 111. Carrollton, Mo. All of these locations are approximate as the center is sometimes ten miles or more distant from these towns. Just how much dependence can be placed on the census figures for "other cattle" as a measure of beef cattle is not known. "Other cattle" include that portion of the dairy population not actually producing milk at the time census figures are collected, while many cows of beef breeding that were being milked at that time are probably always included under dairy cattle. Since there seems to be no way of compensating for these errors, the fore- going centers have been calculated by taking the census figures at their face value. The following figures show the total The Consump- slaughter of beef and veal in the United tion of Beef States and the per capita consumption of each : Slaughter Per capita consumption Veal Ibs. 7,310,000,000 2,000,000 79.7 7.1 1908 6,676,000,000 605,000,000 72.4 6.8 1909 7,071,000,000 684,000,000 76.2 7.5 1910 7,323,000,000 687,000,000 78.1 7.4 1911 7,036,000,000 657,000,000 73 .9 7.0 1912 6,509,000,000 668,000,000 67.5 7.0 1913 5,913,000,000 488,000,000 60.8 5.0 1914 5,639,000,000 433,000,000 58.9 4.4 1915 5,816,000,000 428,000,000 55.6 4.3 1916 6,118,000,000 536,000,000 58.1 5.3 1917 6,686,000,000 662,000,000 62.0 6.5 1918 7,641,000,000 726,000,000 67.8 7.0 1919 6,571,000,000 851,000,000 60.0 8.1 1920 6,111,000,000 909,000,000 56.4 8.5 Page Forty-nine PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Recent statistics are not available for the per capita consumption of beef in foreign countries, but in the United Kingdom the average consumption from 1891- iqo8 ranged from 55 to 60 pounds; Canada averaged 54 pounds in iqoo and 61 pounds in iqio; France 43 pounds in 1904; and Germany's average ranged from 38.6 to 45 pounds from 1904 to 1913. Following is the per capita consumption of all meat in 1 8 foreign countries, these being the latest available statistics: Year Lbs. Australia 1902 262 New Zealand 1902 212 Argentina 1899 139 Canada IQIO 138 Cuba 1906 123 United Kingdom. . . 1906 1 18 Germany 1913 112 France 1904 78 Denmark 1902 76 Year Lbs. Switzerland 1899 75 Belgium 1902 71 Netherlands 1902 70 Greece 1899 68 Norway 1902 61 Sweden 1902 61 Spain 1890 48 Italy 1901 45 Portugal 1899 43 Page Fifty Tubercular cow apparently healthy in appearance which reacted to the tuberculin test and was found diseased on killing. (See page 42.) A steer showing a pronounced case of lump jaw. (See page 40.) Page Fifty-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART VII Cattle Prices The market has a very intimate The Relation relation to beef cattle production. of the Market The effects are not immediate but are to the Feeding reflected from four to twelve months Business later. High prices bring high receipts at the cattle markets, but the producer saves enough females to enlarge his marketing possibilities for the next year or two. On the other hand, lowering prices tend to fall still lower because the producer sees no hope ahead for expansion and turns females that should be breeding onto a market already depressed. The most successful feeders have had the best results by going just contrary to inclination of the average cattleman, since conditions are nearly always reversed by the time the next crop of animals can be made marketable. Such a feeder makes cattle the medium for marketing certain portions of the farm's rough products yearly and thereby makes feeding a permanent business. When returns from such a system are considered over a period of years it will be found that the losses of one year are absorbed by the profits of another, with a reasonable margin for the feeder, while his land will have been permanently upbuilded by the system. Beef cattle feeding is operated on as narrow a margin as obtains in any farm operation and very slight fluctuations in prices may reduce profits to losses or vice versa. Since such fluctuations exist it is very easy for men to lose badly or to make large gains, but since they are difficult to foresee, there are very few cattle speculators except those close to market that have been financially successful. The only real winners in the beef cattle business are those who have made it an integral part of their farming operation, year in and year out. Page Fifty-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Price fluctuations provide the sorest Why Markets spots in marketing that the producer Fluctuate faces. It has never seemed logical to him that a steer worth one price today may be worth a different price a week from today when the costs of the feeds and labor as he has handled them, have not varied. Furthermore the food value of the meat from the steer is approximately the same during a period of several weeks in the finishing of beef animals. From the producer's viewpoint these ideas seem perfectly proper, but producers should take into account the fact that the main factor in meat prices is the existence of a ready market. Farm produce, except fruits and vegetables, does not fluctuate like finished beef products, because it is not quickly perishable. Once it is put into a perishable form, however, farmers and feeders must take chances with others. Beef is just such a perishable article and unless the market can move out of the coolers and refrigerators a sufficiently steady stream of meat to make place for that incoming from the daily kill of cattle, slaughter at the prices being currently paid becomes almost impossible. Lowered prices do two things, they give a slight margin which will help pay the charges on such beef as has to be stored for a few days, and they cause the producer to hold up shipments until a more favorable price may be received, thereby permitting the market to work off excess supplies. As long as the consumer varies in the amount of meat he eats daily, thereby affecting the buying power of the retailer, just so long will there be sudden fluctuations in the prices of beef. There are two general classes of The Two Classes price fluctuations. One class is ex- of Price pressed as trends, due to causes that Fluctuations affect prices over a considerable period of time, while the other is the day to day fluctuation that results from the variations in receipts on the market, variations in the ability of 'the markets to Page Fifty-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING move the beef on hand, and the competition of other meats and foods for the favor of the family pocketbook. Illustrations of factors causing general trends in prices are the seasonal changes in the meat appetite of the buying public, the seasonal variations in receipts, the influence of the export trade, and such unusual occurrences as the recent war. The most important factor of all of these is the ability to sell beef and this is almost perfectly correlated with the volume of beef on hand as related to volume of busi- ness, and is entirely unrelated to the cost of production of the cattle. One of the chief factors contributing Seasonal to low prices for the average, feeder is Variations the tendency for every cattleman to in Price and market his steers in the period Novem- W eight ber to April. The chart facing page 55 presents a study of the prices of native beef on the Chicago market over a period of twenty years and shows that prices for this class of cattle are above the average of the year from April to mid-October, and be- low the average for the remainder of the year. Of course there have been years in which this was not true, but it represents the average condition over this time. The deviations below the average price for the year are greatest in January, February, June, November and December, while the least occurs in the period July to October. Furthermore, in the November to May period, the monthly average price runs nearer the bottom of the deviations from the average annual price, while in the period May to October, the monthly average runs nearer the top of the deviations from the average annual price. This means that the man who markets in the latter period not only gets better prices for his stock, but that he is much more likely to top the market, simply because the monthly average tends to run nearer there. Page Fifty-four PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING For a period of eight years, the average monthly varia- tion in the market weights of cattle at the Chicago market, is shown in the following table: Lbs. Lbs. January 987 July 983 February 992 August 980 March 985 September 957 April 1009 October 951 May 996 November 965 June 1005 December 969 It will be seen that April and June are the periods for heavy cattle, when the winter feeding season is closing, while September and October have the light cattle, due to the run of feeders and grass stock. The average weight for the eight years is 981 Ibs. Because prices are higher at this The Problem of time does not necessarily mean that Marketing Beef the farmer feeder will get greater in All Seasons profits. Beef production depends on the annual cycle of the year, since steers fatten on the crops that mature during the year, but meat is eaten on the daily cycle based on the frequency with which man gets hungry. It therefore happens that the bulk of the cattle come on the market in the months September to February, after they have eaten the crops of the preceding season. Man's appetite runs throughout the year, however, and if he is to be assured a supply of meat at all times, someone must carry the cost of holding either animals or meat over to the leaner months. If the animal is killed the market must absorb the cost of han- dling or storing ; if it is held over for better prices the feeder must pay this cost in feed, equipment and maintenance. It therefore becomes an individual problem for each farmer to determine, whether the additional costs of carrying his Page Fifty-five PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING cattle over will be more than the rise in price he will probably get. Few are competent to advise with him except the men of his locality who are familiar with con- ditions. Possibly the county agricultural agent can be of service in this connection. The two simplest ways of taking Methods of advantage of the better markets in Reaching the the seasons of lean supply are, first, Most Favorable to buy half finished cattle that some Markets other shipper has put on the market and feed them for thirty to sixty days, depending on condition, and, second, to handle the animals by cheap maintenance and suitable farm equipment to carry over into this favorable time. The first system is best adapted to feeders who live close to a big livestock market. At almost any time during the winter the careful buyer can go on the market and watch for steers selling at prices he can afford to consider for further feeding. On the stockyards markets he will have to compete for warmed-up cattle with packer and speculator buyers to a greater extent than for the customary type of feeders, but he will find certain days in every week (not always the same day by any means), when there are more of this type on the market than can be absorbed and he can buy at suitable prices. He may find it to his ad- vantage to do this twice in a winter rather than once, in order to get the most economical use of his feed. He will need dry bottomed feedlots, and protection from the north and west in the more severe sections of the country, and he cannot profitably depend on the steers doing much rustling of their own, but must have facilities for bringing the steers' feed to them. The other system depends on finishing the steers on grass while it is still lush and requires silage and in some sections, soiling crops (peas, oats, vetch, cane, rye, etc.) as supplements. It adapts itself to baby beef production as calves of one spring can Page Fifty-six. PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING be marketed in July or August of the following year. Sufficient winter shelter will be required for these calves to keep them from using too much of their feed to provide heat. This system of feeding and finishing will do well on high priced land, but is of little value in the range and semi-range states where the system of production is too extensive. The relative effect of supply and The Effect of demand on cattle prices on the hoof Supply and is shown in the chart facing page 56. Demand on The two upper curves are not on the Hoof Prices same scale, one square on the curve for market receipts representing 50,000 animals while one square for Armour's purchases repre- sents only 4,000 animals. To make the curves directly comparable the heights in the first curve should be multi- plied 12.5 times. In the case of the two lower curves, however, the general parallelism is quite marked. The fluctuation of hoof prices is not as great as that in dressed beef, because the price of byproducts does not vary with the price of beef but remains relatively constant. On the other hand it will be observed that the purchases of Armour and Company bear only an indirect relation to the price of dressed beef. In general, purchases were low when prices were high and vice versa, but there are almost as many exceptions as illustrations. This is simply another way of saying that prices went up when Armour and Company did not have the beef to supply, while with increased supplies, prices dropped. If the points along the dressed beef curve and the live cattle curve are compared for divergence in direction, periods in which supply overrode demand to a slight degree will be noted. In September, 1917, and Septem- ber, 1918, dressed beef prices rose while hoof prices dropped, but it will be noted that in each case the number of cattle on the market materially increased — in the first Page Fifty-seven PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING instance 65,000 head or 27.6 percent of the previous months' receipts, and in the second instance, 155,000 head or 64.6 percent. On the other hand, in November, 10,18, and July and August, iqiq, dressed beef prices dropped while hoof prices rose. This was unquestionably due to the fact that the purchases of the months preceding each of these periods were extremely light, while each preceded a period when the beef trade normally picks up, in the first case for Christmas, and in the second for the advent of cooler weather. Page Fifty-eight ...i ._^4 -X PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART VIII The Beef Carcass Beef is a food which contains the The Relative highest form of protein for human con- Value of sumption, in the most palatable, Carcass Cuts stimulating and digestible form. It is an energy producer, a muscle builder and supplies mineral salts and the three principal groups of vitamines. There is no substitute for beef in the diet and, combined with vegetables, it makes the ideal human food in the mixed diet, the nutritive superiority of which long years of human history have demonstrated. There are eight standard wholesale cuts from the carcass ; the round, the loin, the flank, the rib, the chuck, the plate and the shank, as shown in the illustration facing page 66, and the suet secured from the free fat of the animal. There is a pronounced difference in the value of different carcasses and in the value of the cuts produced from different parts of the same carcass. The quality of the carcass is dependent on the relative thickness of the lean meat, its tenderness, the interspersion of fat among the muscle fibers, the firmness of the flesh, the freedom from bruised spots, the rich redness of the lean meat, and the clear white of the sound firm fat. Carcasses poorly pro- tected by fat cannot stand handling in the fresh meat trade, while carcasses too darkly red in the lean and too yellow in the fat indicate age or finish on feeds that pro- duce a more perishable carcass. Two very important factors affecting the value of the carcass are the lightness of the bone and the relative proportion of the valuable cuts. When beeves are handled in bulk, as in Armour and Company's Dressed Beef Department, the average propor- Page Fifty-nine PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING tion of the different cuts is usually figured for convenience in pricing, but if the carcasses are sold to the retailer, a slight difference in the proportion of valuable cuts is especially important. The demand as reflected from the retailer is shown by the different price per pound in the following table, in which the carcasses are considered by the cwt., thereby showing the percentages of the different cuts. The same price is allowed for the cuts from both carcasses in order to show the effect of the more valuable portions on the profits. In practice carcasses showing as great differences as recorded here would sell for different prices per pound. Steer No. i Steer No. 2 Cut Price per Ib. Wt. cut Value Wt. cut Value cwt. cwt. Round $0.10 24 $2.40 22 $2.20 Loin .28 18 5.04 16 4.48 Flank 06 3.5 .21 4 .24 Suet 10 3.5 .35 4 .40 Rib 26 10 2.60 8 2.08 Chuck 08 25 2.00 27 2.16 Plate 045 13 .585 14 .63 Shank 045 3 .135 5 .225 Total $13.32 $12.415 In other words, on each hundred pounds bought in the proportions listed above, steers like No. i would be worth qo>^ cents more than steers like No. 2, even though their meat was of exactly similar grade. On a 65o-pound carcass, this difference would be $5.88. It is very seldom that two steers Factors in showing the difference in proportion Carcass Values of cuts cited in the foregoing would produce meat of similar value, but one carcass would be of lesser quality than the other. During the winter 1921-22 good beef at Chicago prices sold around 13 to 13^ cents a pound wholesale, while medium quality stuff was bringing about 1 1 to i \Y2 cents. Page Sixty PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Two carcasses cutting up similar to those discussed in the foregoing paragraph would yield wholesale cuts as follows: Steer No. i Steer No. 2 Cut Wt. cut Price per Value Wt. cut Price per Value per cwt. lb. per cwt. lb. Round 24 $0.10 $2.40 22 $0.08 $1.96 Loin 18 .28 5.04 16 .26 4.16 Flank 3.5 .06 .21 4 .06 .24 Suet 3.5 .10 .35 4 .10 .40 Rib 10 .26 2.60 8 .24 i.Q2 Chuck 25 .08 2.00 27 .08 2.16 Plate 13 .045 .585 14 .045 .63 Shank 3 .045 .135 5 .045 .225 Total.. $13.32 $11.695 In this case two differences of importance exist between the two steers, percentage of valuable cuts and quality of cuts. The difference is expressed as $1.62 per hundred, or $10.53 on a 65o-pound carcass. Retail stores will take the carcass of the first steer at an advanced price because the retailer can make more from it himself, and because he can dispose of it to a better class of trade. The next paragraph shows how these differences are reflected to the producer. The following actual cases taken The Relation of from animals killed in January, 1922, Carcass Price to by Armour and Company show how Hoof Price the demand for different classes of meat is transformed into the value of steers on foot. Only animals of good breeding and finish can make the class of beef represented by carcass No. i, and the majority of them weigh from 1 100 pounds up, although there is no reason why animals of this quality cannot be produced in the cornbelt at 950 pounds for example, when fed from birth. The second class of steer comes more usually from average stock. In the particular instances here quoted, the steer purchased by our buyers to meet the 12 cent trade demand weighed Page Sixty-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING 1117 pounds, while the other weighed 908 pounds. The data for steers of each class at this time is shown in the following table: Steer No. i Steer No. 2 Carcass price $12.14 $10.12 Carcass weight 658 Ibs. 4QQ Ibs. Value carcass $79.86 $50.52 Credits — Hides, offal, etc 9.49 8.04 Killing and overhead 5.58 4.54 Net credits $83.77 $54-02 Live weight 1117 Ibs. qo8 Ibs. Possible hoof price per cwt $ 7.50 $ 5.95 The actual prices paid were $7.55 and $5.90. From long experience the Dressed Beef Department can figure what it can afford to pay for steers or heifers of any type and weight in order to produce a particular grade or class of beef, the costs being known in terms of averages, and the corrected costs being made for each lot in terms of the actual record of the animals purchased. The figures shown in the preceding table represent corrected costs and not averages used for preliminary estimates. Each morning the Armour cattle buyers are furnished with a statement of the costs of the beef from the animals they purchased the day before, as well as the actual dressing percentage. The principal factor involved in the judg- ment of the buyer is the ability to estimate the dressing percentage closely, and after years of experience the best buyers become unbelievably accurate. But more than an estimate of the dressing quality is needed, as the buyer must be able to recognize the type of animal that will produce the kind of beef which the Dressed Beef De- partment needs to fill its orders or its shortages. Page Sixty-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART IX Market Classes of Cattle Cattle are placed in classes according How Cattle to the use to which they are put, while Are Classified they are graded according to their merit in fulfilling this purpose. The three major classes are beef cattle, butcher stock, and feeders and stackers. Beef cattle produce carcasses suitable for the wholesale trade, of the better grades, Nos. i or 2, and of standard quality. Butcher stock produces either an inferior grade of carcass, or else only partially produces marketable cuts. Feeders and stockers are animals that must be developed further before being slaughtered, feeders being ready to go into the feed lot at once, and stockers being too thin or too small to fatten until they have been further developed on cheap feeds. Each of these classes has a certain number of sub-classes, although there is no rigid distinction between them, the daily condi- tion of supply and demand materially affecting the classi- fication. For example light-necked, thin stags on one day's market may be slaughtered as a common grade of stag, while another day they may be sent back to the country as feeders, depending on the relative need for butcher stock or feeders The principal classes and sub- classes are indicated in the following outline: Beef Cattle Beef Steers Yearling Steers Yearling Heifers Heavy Heifers Stags Page Sixty-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Butcher Stock Cows Bulls Veals Feeders and Stockers (Kosher I Butcher 1 Cutter Canner Butcher Bologna Selected Medium [Heavy Feeder Steers Yearling Steers Yearling Heifers Feeder Cows Feeder Bulls Springer Cows Springer Heifers Stocker Steers Stocker Heifers Obviously not all of the animals How Cattle that are placed in a particular class Are Graded on a given day are equally suited to meet the requirements of that class. Hence they are graded according to their ability to realize these requirements. The standard grades are prime, choice, good, medium, fair, plain, common and poor. Prime animals are fully finished and of improved type. Choice animals are practically as good in type, but are not so perfectly finished. Good animals are not as desirable as prime, either in condition or type. Medium steers are practically of the same quality as good, but not their equal in condition, while fair steers fall below medium in quality, type and condition. Both medium and fair steers are quite numerous on the market, nearly 50 percent of steers falling in these two grades. Plain steers are deficient in type and quality, but carry some flesh, while common steers lack flesh to a greater extent. Poor steers are typical of their name, inferior in practically all respects. Page Sixty-Jour PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Characteristics of The following general description Different Grades of each of the grades of cattle will be and Classes of found applicable on the average to Beef Cattle and cattle on the spring Chicago markets Butcher Stock of 1922 : Grade Weight Condition Type Prime Beef Steers. .. 1350-1500 Ripe Excellent Choice Beef Steers. . 1250-1450 Good Excellent Good Beef Steers ... 1250-1450 Good Good Medium Beef Steers . 1 200- 1 400 Average Average Fair Beef Steers 1050-1 250 Average Average Plain Beef Steers. . . . 1000-1 1 50 Fair Deficient quality and form Common Beef Steers qoo- 1 050 Light Few signs of good breeding Poor Beef Steers 800-950 None Very inferior While the other classes and sub-classes vary in weights from those quoted above, the general statements as to type and condition hold good throughout. In some cases a few of the grades are omitted or new grades are created to meet special conditions in a particular class of stock. The following table shows the grades applied to the other classes : Class Grades Yearling Steers Prime, Choice, Good, Medium, Fair, Plain, Common. Yearling Heifers Extra Fancy, Fancy, Prime, Choice, Good, Medium, Fair, Plain, Common. Heavy Heifers Extra Fancy, Fancy, Prime, Choice, Good, Medium, Fair, Plain, Common. Stags Choice, Good, Medium, Plain, Common, Light, Thin. [Kosher — Prime, Choice, Good. /->_.. j Butcher — Choice, Good, Fair, Plain. vs Cutter— Good, Fair, Plain. [Canner — Good, Fair, Plain, Common, Poor. {Butcher — Prime, Choice, Good, Medium, Plain. Bologna— Choice, Good, Medium, Plain, Common, Light. [Selected — Prime, Choice. Veals. j Medium — Choice, Good, Fair, Poor. [Heavy — Choice, Good, Fair, Poor. Page Sixty-five PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Extra fancy heifers are females showing very light de- velopment in the essentially feminine characters; that is, they are trimmer of middle and smoother through the hooks and rump than usual, being prime in other particulars. They usually are very well bred and extremely uniform. Fancy heifers are similar to extra fancy except that they are slightly less uniform, and usually a little lighter. Kosher cows are of good size, and well enough finished to make a thick forequarter for the Jewish trade. The quarter is cut off behind the fifth rib, and thickness of meat is essential in order to produce the requirements. Light thin stags are animals that border between feeders and canners. Their name is indicative of their type and quality. Prime selected veal calves weigh from 1 35 to 165 pounds and are fat. Medium weight veals run from no to 150 pounds, the better grades being heavier, and the poor to fair veals average from 1 10 to 125 pounds. Heavy veals weigh 200 to 350 pounds, the plain skim-milk calves in this class ranging from 200 to 300 pounds. Over the year the number of heavy veals and true veals runs about equal in calves slaughtered for interstate trade. Feeders and stockers are graded in a man- Grades and ner similar to finished cattle, but the deter- Classes of mining factors are based on their ability to Feeders and gain rather than their ability to kill. Feed- Stockers er steers have the following classification : Grade Weight Breeding Type Fancy selected. . i ooo 1 1 50 Nearly pure beef blood Uniform, beefy Choice 1000 High in beef blood Beefy Good QOO One or two crosses pure bulls Above average Medium 850- qoo Mixed Below average Fair 800- 850 Some cold blood evident Rougher, plainer Page Sixty-six Wholesale cuts of the beef carcass. No. 3 round. No. 1 round. Note the fuller shape of the No. 1 round and the better marbling of fat with lean. Also the surface of the No. 1 round is velvety and dry as compared with the darker wetter surface of the No. 3 round. PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Other classes of feeders and stackers grade as shown in the next table, their differences between grades approxi- mating that shown in the foregoing. Class Grades Weights Yearling steers. . .Choice, good, fair, common 500-650 Stocker steers. .. .Fancy selected, choice, good, fair, common 600-800 Feeding heifers . .Yearlings, choice, good, fair, range 600-800 Feeding cows. . . .Choice, good, fair, plain 650-850 Springer cows — Good, fair 750-900 Springer heifers. .Good, fair 700-800 Feeder bulls Choice, good, fair 800-1 100 In January, 1922, feeder steers brought about 25 to 50 cents per cwt. more in the corresponding grades than yearlings, due to their ability to finish faster, while stack- ers sold 25 cents to a dollar lower than feeders. Heifers in corresponding grades brought 75 cents more than cows, while feeder bulls were generally listed about the same as feeder cows. In the early days of the cattle industry, feeder and stocker values were set by subtracting the cost of feeding from finished cattle, but as the demand for dressed beef raised the prices of unfinished animals, the margin on which the feeder operates no longer has any relation to the cost of finishing, but is determined by the value of the unfed animal for killing purposes. The feeder buyer frequently finds competition on the highest type of feeder cattle because a limited sale demand exists for just such cuts as the raw feeder produces. The fact that a certain percentage of this type of animals can be used for beef, particularly in the face of market scarcity, has led to a competition with feeder buyers, that has been difficult for them to understand. Many have interpreted this competition to mean that finished cattle are no longer desired, but this is by no means true, since the market can handle only a limited portion of unfinished cattle of this character. Page Sixty-seven PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PARTX Cattle Types While finished cattle are classed How Type Is and graded on the market as indicated Determined in the foregoing paragraphs, there are distinct differences in type between choice feeders and choice killing steers. The factors that determine whether an animal shall be classed as a beef steer and graded choice include high dressing percent, high proportion of valuable cuts, ability to produce a No. i carcass and a size suitable to produce retail cuts most readily marketable. The price paid for live animals is based on these points entirely. On the other hand when a feeder buys a steer he is looking for the points that will indicate profitable utilization of his feed. A steer of this sort has a large rugged frame, a strong chest and constitu- tion, enough depth to indicate a strong feeding capacity, and a loose, mellow, sappy hide that provides a vigorous circulation and a high degree of health. It will be noted that none of the points making the animal profitable as a feeder have any relation to the efficiency with which the steer cuts out, hence the type suitable both to the trade and the feeder is a compromise. This is the type which has come to recognition in the big fat stock shows of England and America, and in its ultimate development provides the show yard champions. The usual champion steer is fed to a flesh unprofitable to the feeder from a market standpoint, since the final gains of such an animal are very costly and there is ordinarily too much fat to permit the animal to be cut up profitably by the butcher. It therefore happens that many times steers gaining high honors in a show are considered less valuable by practical feeders and sell for less on the beef markets than animals of lower show rank. Page Sixty-eight PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Nevertheless in the long run this Characteristics compromise type of steer (see page 4 1 ) of the Standard is the one that gives best returns at all Types of Beef stages of his development. Such an Steer animal as viewed from the side should be straight in top and underline, deep, low-set, stylish in carriage, symmetrical in all parts, and possessed of a smooth, thick, meaty appearance. From the rear he should be wide throughout and even; smooth through the shoulders, hook points and rump; and deep and thick in thigh, lower round and twist. From the front he should show a pronounced breadth from shoulder top down through the breast, his neck and shoulder vein should be plump with fat, his head short, broad and well-dished, and his legs set well apart. Such a steer will carry thick cuts in the valuable parts and be proportionate between his carcass and the internal organs that provide his meat making machinery. He should be thick, smooth and mellow to the touch in all parts of his body, and as refined in bone, skin and hair as possible without reducing his ruggedness or vigor. Since beef cattle sell by the pound a big steer at a given age is always preferable to a smaller one of the same general merit. The fat cattle buyer must not only Dressing determine what kind of carcass the Percent animal he buys will produce, but he must also determine what the steer will yield, in terms of carcass to live weight. This is known as the dressing percentage and depends on the condition, the freedom from paunchiness, the type and the quality. Fat steers always outdress animals of less finish, the degree of their condition being judged in accurate detail by the filling of the tongue root, brisket, shoulder vein, flank and twist, in addition to the general covering over the body. The fill of the digestive organs with feed and water is as important as the condition. In shipping, steers of 1200 pound weight frequently Page Sixty-nine PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING shrink 40 to 60 pounds, due to the emptying of the diges- tive tract, which is 3 to 5 percent of the entire weight of the animal. A difference in estimate of i percent dress on a 1200 pound steer selling at q cents a pound is $1.08, and many mistakes of that sort reduce to zero the usefulness of a buyer. The broad thick type of steer will outdress the steer of wedge-shaped dairy type even when condition and fill are the same, by 3 to 5 percent, while quality in hide, head and bone may affect the dressing ratio by i to 2 percent. The average run of steers killed by Armour and Com- pany dress about 53 percent, good to choice ranging from 56 to 59, and steers of extra good show type, going from 59 to 63. The champion steer at the 1920 Fort Worth show was killed by Armour and Company and dressed 67.48 percent. The world's record is on a spayed heifer killed at the Smithfield Fat Stock Show in London, that made 76.75 percent. Fat cows dress about 56 per cent, and canners from 35 to 43 percent. Feeders in estimating the value of the cattle they ship should not allow dressing percentage to overshadow the value of quality and proper shape in the carcasses their steers produce. In final analysis the price of a load of steers is directly related to the desirability of the carcasses obtained, and quality, size and shape provide the original basis on which the buyer must make his estimates. Page Seventy PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART XI Marketing Cattle Much of the profit that may have Preparations for been acquired during the feeding Shipping operation may be lost when the animals are sent to market. Faulty shipping methods may cause such a great difference in the loading weight of the steer at home and its selling weight at the market that the feeder may actually make or break on this margin. This "shrink" is caused by the failure of the animal to eat and drink the normal amount, and by scouring. Long hauls, rough handling, improper feeding, extreme weather, exhaustion and numerous minor factors affect the amount of shrink and nothing will eliminate it entirely. It averages about 4.0 percent of the animal's weight. Grass, silage and pulp-fed cattle shrink more than grain fed, while such grades as canner cows shrink more proportionately than finished stock. If about two days before shipping a less washy ration is substituted for the regular ration, the shrink may not be so great, although if the change is too sudden the animal may be upset. On the other hand, too dry a ration works a severe detriment to the selling condition of the cattle. To withhold water before shipping and to feed salt is cruel and deceives no one except the shipper himself. A normal fill is always accepted but both packer buyers and feeder buyers can easily recognize animals in abnormal condition. CA.-~~,V,, Tne following suggestions issued by snipping the National Livestock Exchange Counsel should prove helpful . Always route your shipment through to destination and designate each road handling it. Page Seventy-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Always carefully insert the number and kind of each species of stock loaded. Always see that car order information is inserted when the car furnished differs from the car ordered. Always insert the words "ordinary live stock" in the description of stock except that "chiefly valuable for breeding, racing, show purposes or other special uses." Always insert in the proper space the rate which you understand is to be applied. If the rate and route con- flict it is the agent's duty so to inform you. Always give specific instructions as to the place of feeding enroute, indicating the kind and quantity of feed to be furnished. Always release your shipment to the 36-hour limit unless, in your opinion, the 28-hour limit should be observed. Always declare the full value of other than "ordinary live stock," otherwise you cannot recover more than the declared value in case of loss. Never accept a contract where the carrier's agent seeks to limit the liability of the carrier. Never declare the value of "ordinary live stock." The agent cannot lawfully require this of you. Never pay a rate on "ordinary live stock" dependent upon the declared value. If it has been paid file a claim to recover the overcharge. Never let the railroad agent route your shipment against your own preference. The law gives this right to you exclusively. Never send an attendant unless he is an experienced livestock man. The responsibilities are too great to risk amateurs. Page Seventy-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING Never pay loading or unloading charges at public markets nor at intermediate feeding stations, except when you order the stock fed there. The law imposes upon the carrier the duty of performing this service. Always order your car right and in ample time. Always protect your rights in cases where cars are substituted. Always bed your car properly. Always mark your livestock legibly for identification. Always partition different kinds of livestock and tie dangerous animals. Always check your railroad billing weight against sale weights to avoid overpayment. Always pay no more nor no less than the full lawful charge. The center of consumption of beef Handling Cattle in the United States averages approxi- at the Market mately noo miles distant from the center of production in terms of inter- state trade. As a result of this, a complex but very efficient marketing system has been developed. Cattle shipped to central markets are handled by the trunk rail- road, the terminal railroad at the market, the stock yards company and the commission firm before they are manu- factured into meat and other products, while the meat passes through the wholesale markets, either directly into the hands of the retailer, or through the intermediate hands of the jobber. Yet, so efficiently is this done in most cases that the retailer can purchase meat more cheaply that has gone through all of these hands and has traveled all of these miles, than he can butcher the animal and sell the meat therefrom himself. Furthermore, by so doing he is insured against disease and can have a greater variety of meats to suit the public taste. The terminal railroad receives the cars from the main line, spots them at the chutes for loading and unloading, Page Seventy-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING returns them to the transfer tracks and receives its return by payment of so much per car. The stock yards com- pany receives the cattle from the railroad at the unloading chute, counts them, and delivers them to the commission firm at their pens. This company does all the weighing, counts the shipments in the cars and records the entire transaction from unloading to selling. For this, it receives a yardage fee. It also furnishes the feed to the shipper for which he must pay. The commission firm acts as the selling agent for the shipper. It rents blocks of pens from the yard company and engages in selling or buying the cattle of the shipper. In order to do this, the commission men must know accurately, both cattle and the market, and follow the changes from day to day. Practically no shippers are frequent enough visitors to the market to be able to place as accurate a value on their property as the commission salesman. The com- mission firm is the final link in the establishment of a cash market since it provides credit for each individual shipper, who is probably unknown to the stockyards company and prepares for him the bill of sale, deducts charges and prepares the check for the shipper often before he has received his own money from the buyer. Cattle bought by Armour and Com- Slaughtering pany for slaughter are driven across Cattle to their holding pens. From here they are driven up a long chute or incline to the killing beds on the top floor of the plant. Here they pass into a long line of knocking pens, two to each pen, and are there dispatched with a heavy blow of the sledge. They are then hoisted by the hind legs for sticking, the blood being caught in buckets for use in further manufacture of byproducts, feed and fertilizer. The heads are skinned out, washed and prepared for the Government inspector. The carcass of each individual animal holds its place in rotation throughout the entire Page Seventy-four PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING operation, all parts cut from it being kept in the same order until the Government inspector has finally passed it. Armour and Company is very proud of the rigid and efficient inspecting force from the Bureau of Animal Industry which supervises the killing and meat prepara- tion in its plants. After the heads have been removed the cattle are moved out from the sticking rail and are laid down on the floor with the feet in the air. The fore and hind legs are skinned out and unjoin ted at the knee and hock. The legs are sent down another chute to be made into combs, knife handles and glue. The hide is then opened down the center of the belly and skinned off the sides by a set of very expert workmen who with one stroke turn back the hide from the belly to the floor. The cattle are then hooked through the hocks and partially raised from the floor, the middles opened, the entrails removed, placed in a sterilized moving pan and inspected. While this is going on other men skin out the rump and pull the hide free from the round. Extreme care is needed in working here as the hide from the rump makes the very best grade of leather, and any cuts cause serious loss. The tails are skinned out and started on the road to the soup factory. The carcass is then raised completely, the hide removed from the back and "hide droppers" follow to remove the skin entirely from the legs and shoulders. The carcass is now split through the center of the back bone from tail to neck by means of long cleavers and so accurate is the work that jagged cuts and bone splinters are very rare. The split carcass passes on a moving trolley, is given a thorough scrubbing with warm water and brushes, wiped dry and sent white and clean to the last Government inspector. If no disease has been found in any part of the animal it is stamped, "U. S. Inspected and Passed," and sent to the coolers. If infection is found the carcass is switched onto the Government rail and a thorough examination made. Condemned meat is so stamped and kept under Government lock until Page Seventy-five PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING put in the tank for inedible grease and other byproducts. U. S. inspected meat is always safe meat. The Chicago packing plant of Armour and Company can handle 180 cattle at a time, the entire operation from knocking to final inspection taking about an hour. The beef hangs in a temperature of about 34 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 48 hours and is then quartered or cut up otherwise, loaded into the refrigerator car and sent to the branch house for sale to the retailer. Fresh beef is perishable and its handling demands a continuous attention to tem- perature and a maximum of speed in distribution. Page Seventy-six PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING PART XII Hides and Byproducts Hides are divided into two great The Market subclasses: packer hides and coun- Classification try hides. Packer hides are taken off of Hides uniformly, are cured and stored under standard conditions, and are usually available in such numbers that purchasers may secure several thousand of one grade of hide. Country hides, on the other hand, are removed according to the idea of each individual skinner, are often imperfectly cured and stored, always show greater percentages of cuts and gashes, and are never on the market in sufficiently uniform grades to allow narrow selections of any number in a given grade. Packer hides are divided into subclasses as follows : Steers. Natives , Branded. Specifications Spready Minimum width 6'6" Heavy Cured weight . .60 Ibs. up Light Cured weight . Extreme Light Cured weight . Butt branded Cured weight . Colorados (side branded)Cured weight . Heavy Texas Cured weight . Light Texas Cured weight . Extreme Light Texas. . .Cured weight. .60-60 Ibs. .15-50 Ibs. . 50 Ibs. up . 50 Ibs. up .60 Ibs. up . 50-60 Ibs. .15-50 Ibs. Bulls. [Natives (Heavy Cured weight . . 55 Ibs. up QJWS J \Light Cured weight . .15-5* Ibs. IBranded Cured weight ... .15 Ibs. up [Natives Cured weight ... .15 Ibs. up [Branded Cured weight ... .25 Ibs. up [Kips Cured weight 15-15 Ibs. Calves^ Packer calves Cured weight Under 15 Ibs. ISlunks Sold by the piece. The average weights of the different classes of hides follow: Heavy native steers, 62-65 Ibs.; light natives, 54-55 Ibs.; extreme light natives, 40-45 Ibs.; butt branded 60-65 Ibs.; Colorados (side branded), 60-65 Ibs.; heavy Texas, 63-65 Ibs.; light Texas, 55-56 Ibs.; extreme light Texas, 40-45 Ibs. ; heavy native cows, 60* Ibs. ; light native Page Seventy-seven PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING cows, 42-48 Ibs. ; branded cows, 43-55 Ibs.; native bulls, 70-85 Ibs.; branded bulls, 70-85 Ibs. Spready native steer hides are measured from brisket to brisket as the hide is stretched flat ; that is, the measure- ment corresponds to the girth. Spready native steer hides are used for automobile, carriage and furniture leather. Heavy and Light Native Steer hides are used for harness and belting leather. Extreme Light Native Steer hides are used for upper leathers and belting leather. All branded steer hides are used for sole leather, as are branded cows. Heavy Native Cows are used for harness, automobile and furniture leather, while Light Native Cow hides are used for case and bag leather, harness, upper leather, and belting. There are many sex differences which develop in hides. Cow hides are thicker through the hindquarter and lighter in the forequarter, while bull hides are quite thin behind and very thick over the shoulders. Steer hides are intermediate, but are heavier behind than a bull's hide, also being wider. Hides are thicker in winter than in summer, but the shrinkage due to cure is greater in summer than in winter hides. Without going into the salt, summer hides will stand up only two days while winter hides will stand up three days. With the large packers, hides are graded as they go into the salt, but with the smaller houses the grading is done as the hides come out. While Texas hides usually make the heaviest sole leather, they are at a great disadvantage due to the brands, which -when tanned into sole leather wear out very rapidly. Cattle without horns usually throw a heavier hide in proportion to their weight, than do horned cattle. Bull hides are heavier than steer hides, and steer hides are heavier than cow hides. Among fat cattle, Herefords and Aberdeen-Angus throw the heaviest hides, with Holstein-Friesians a close third. It costs more to inspect native hides due to the necessity of a thorough examina- Page Seventy-eight PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING tion for brands, which are admitted to exist in western and southwestern cattle. Kosher killed cattle, which run from 10 to 25 percent of heavy hides, are subject to a % to ^ cent per pound reduction in hide sale values, due to the cut in the throat. Similarly, cut hides, accidentally damaged in skinning, are reduced about a cent a pound, and usually include from 3 to 4 percent of the total production. Grubby hides are subject to a penalty of i cent a pound, in case there are five or more grub holes present. Country hides are classified as follows: [Steers 60 Ibs. up Heavy \ (Cows 60 Ibs. up Buffs 45-6o Ibs. Extremes ^5-45 Ibs. Bulls fSide branded country packer 25 Ibs. up Country Branded . Side branded country 25 Ibs. up (Kips i?-*? Ibs. Calf 8-15 Ibs. Calfskins . . . -(Light calf Under 8 Ibs. Deacons Under 7 Ibs. ISlunks Sold by the piece Dry hides are not normally an important factor in the American hide market. South American hides are marketed dry in relatively large numbers, due to the relative permanence of the hide in that form, but the cost of gathering for market in the United States is such that producers today get practically nothing for their dry hides. Fallen hides are those removed from dead animals, while glue hides are those unfit for tanning. Heavy westerns Light westerns Kips Dry Hides Calf Fallen Glue hides Dry salt hides Page Seventy-nine PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING The trend of hides for a few years back as taken from the Chicago Daily Hide and Tallow Bulletin is of interest. The prices quoted are average for the year specified, in cents : Packer Hides Heavy Heavy Colo- Heavy Light Native Year Native Texas rados Native Native Bulls Steers Cows Cows 1921 $14-11 $13-34 $12.02 $12.64 $11.69 $ 8.54 I92O 31.73 17-47 26.01 31.51 29.10 15-45 1919 39.76 36.66 34.71 37.71 39-39 31.06 1918 29.88 17-95 26.29 17.41 22.70 20.76 1917 3^.37 30-99 29.80 31.69 29.40 25.09 1916 16.43 24-48 23.53 14-97 25.11 21.29 1915 14-03 21.52 20.39 13-54 22.96 19.23 1914 19-78 19.26 18.25 19.00 19-38 15.91 1913 18.35 18.02 17.27 17.14 17.26 14.88 1912 17-71 16.82 15.76 16.48 16.34 14.05 iqn 14-91 14.41 13.37 13.90 13.62 12.24 IQIO 15.66 15.00 13.44 13.78 13.07 12.14 1909 16.05 16.39 15.33 I5-13 14.81 13.19 1908 13-43 13-89 12.26 11.42 11.02 IO.OO 1907 14-56 14.09 11.82 13.12 12.72 11.85 iqo6 15-43 14.88 13.66 14.96 14.88 12. 2O 1905 14-36 14-45 13.13 13.18 I3.IO 10.80 1904 11-77 12.67 10.84 10.62 10.47 9.12 Average $10.57 $19-57 $18.22 $20.36 $18.73 $15.99 Heavy Country Hides Heavy Calf Kip Year Steers Cows Skins Skins IQZI ...$ 9-40 $ 8.09 $15-36 $12.52 I92O . . . 23.89 20. 1 1 37.6o 29.91 IQIQ ... 3 1 .98 19-97 64.19 48.96 1918 . . . 23.44 21.12 36.46 13-63 1917 ... 25.65 13.15 38.19 33-45 1916 ... 20.99 2O.22 33.98 17.63 1915 . . . 19-51 18.96 11-39 20.41 I9U ... 16.67 16.46 21. II 19-13 1913 ... 15-35 14.97 19-43 1 6.66 1912 ... 14-33 14.11 19-35 16.31 igi I . . . 12. 2O 11.86 I9IO , ... 12.15 11.20 16.31 12. II 1909 . . . 14.08 13.18 17-74 13-78 1908 ... 10.54 9-34 14-43 9.91 1907 ... 11.77 10.99 I5.8I 11.41 1906 ... 13-76 13.44 15.76 13.73 1905 ... 12.41 11.90 14-94 12.50 1904 . . . 9-91 9.41 13-43 10.8 1 Average $16.56 $15.48 $23.08 $18.49 Page Eighty PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING When cattle killing first became a cen- Byproducts tralized business there were only two standard products from the animal marketed, the beef and the hide. Due to the utilization of the byproducts in the modern packing plant, both the dressed meat and the hide bring less than the animal costs on foot, enabling the packer to shave to the lowest degree, the margin between buying and selling price on the cattle he buys and their products. A representative condition is shown in the following steer, purchased by Armour and Company in January, 1922: Purchase price, 1,117 lb. steer $ 83.77 Selling price (wholesale) 658 lb. carcass $ 79.86 Selling price, hide 7.06 Killing and overhead costs 5.58 Credits for raw byproducts 2.43 Loss on steer .02 Total $217.70 $217.70 If it were not for the byproducts the loss on this steer would have been $2.45. Armour and Company do not always make a profit per head on their cattle. In iqiq and 1920 an actual loss per animal was sustained, while in 1 92 1 a profit of $1.00 per steer was made. The possibility of converting these materials which formerly were waste products is based entirely on volume. No small packing plant can afford to organize factories for the manufacture of these materials, but must put in the waste pile everything except what can be most easily assembled. The sources of the byproducts are the hide, the blood, the waste meat, the viscera, the glands and the bones. From the hair and hide come all kinds of leather, brushes, binder for plaster, felt, padding, hair for uphol- stering and mattresses and glue. From the sinews, fats and blood come bloodmeal, filler for leather, ammoniate Page Eighty-one PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING for fertilizer, meat meal, lubricating oils, oleomargarine, soap, glue, case hardening bone, gelatine, isinglass and stearine. From the glands and the viscera come gold- beaters' skins, perfume bottle caps, tennis strings, clock cords, drum snares, violin strings, surgical ligatures and Pharmaceuticals (such as extract of thyroid, pituitary liquid, pineal substance, supraenals, pancreatin, adrena- lin, pepsin, rennet, thrombo-plastin, etc.). From the bones come combs, buttons, hairpins, umbrella handles, napkin rings, tobacco boxes, buckles, crochet needles, knife handles, dice, chess men, electrical bushings, washers, artificial teeth, bone rings for nursing bottles, glue, case hardening bone, gelatine, fertilizers, oils, grease, soap and red bone marrow. From the hoofs and horns come various manufactured articles of horn, such as inkwells, combs, hair-brush backs, etc., and neatsfoot oil. In the larger manufacturing plants not a single element of what was formerly called "packers' waste" is discarded as of no value. Page Eighty-two PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING References BOOKS ON BEEF CATTLE "Western Live Stock Management," E. L. Potter (MacMillan & Company). "Types and Classes of Live Stock," H. W. Vaughan (R. S. Adams & Company). "Live Stock Judging and Selection," R. S. Curtis (Lea & Febiger). "Judging Live Stock," John A. Craig (Kenyon Printing & Mfg. Co.,) "Principles and Practice of Judging Live Stock," Carl W. Gay (MacMillan & Company). "Cattle Breeds and Management," (Vinton & Company, London). "Types and Breeds of Farm Animals," C. S. Plumb (Ginn & Company). "The Breeds of Live Stock," C. W. Gay (MacMillan & Company). "Shorthorn Cattle," A. H. Sanders (Breeders' Gazette). "The Story of the Herefords," A. H. Sanders (Breeders' Gazette). "History of Shorthorn Cattle," MacDonald & Sinclair (Vinton & Company, London). "Fifty Years With the Shorthorns," Robert Bruce (Vinton & Company, London) . "History of Hereford Cattle," MacDonald & Sinclair (Vinton & Company, London). "History of Aberdeen- Angus Cattle," MacDonald &z Sinclair (Vinton & Company, London). "Aberdeen- Angus Cattle," A. L. Pulling (Vinton & Company, London). BOOKS ON FEEDS "Feeds and Feeding," Henry & Morrison (The Henry-Morrison Co., Madison, Wis.) "Productive Feeding of Farm Animals," F. W. Woll (Lippincott). "The Feeding of Animals," W. H. Jordan (MacMillan &. Company). "First Principles of Feeding Farm Animals," C. W. Burkett (Orange Judd Company). "Profitable Stock Feeding," H. R. Smith (Howard R. Smith, Union Stock Yards, Chicago). Page Eighty-three PROGRESSIVE BEEF CATTLE RAISING "The Scientific Feeding of Animals," O. Kellner (The MacMillan Company, London). BOOKS ON BREEDING "The Principles of Stock Breeding," Jas. Wilson (Vinton & Company, London). "The Breeding of Animals," F. B. Mumford (MacMillan & Company). "Breeding Farm Animals," F. R. Marshall (Breeders' Gazette). "The Breeding of Farm Animals," M. W. Harper (Orange Judd Company). "Inbreeding and Outbreeding," East & Jones (Lippincott). "Heredity and Eugenics," W. E. Castle (Harvard University Press). "Genetics in Relation to Agriculture," Babcock and Clausen (McGraw-Hill Pub. Co.) BOOKS ON DISEASES "Diseases of Cattle," United States Department of Agriculture. "Common Diseases of Farm Animals," R. A. Craig (Lippincott). "Principles of Veterinary Science," F. B. Hadley (Saunders). Publications of the United States Department of Agriculture, available for free distribution by the Department : "Lespedeza or Japan Clover," Farmer's Bulletin No. 441. "Red Clover," Farmer's Bulletin No. 455. "Market Hay," Farmer's Bulletin No. 508. "Vetches," Farmers' Bulletin No. 515. "Crimson Clover," Farmers' Bulletin Nos. 550, 579 and 646. "Making and Feeding of Silage," Farmers' Bulletin No. 578. "Beef Production in the South," Farmer's Bulletin No. 580. "Economical Cattle Feeding," Farmer's Bulletin No. 588. "Sudan Grass," Farmer's Bulletin No. 605. "Breeds of Beef Cattle," Farmers' Bulletin No. 612. "Cottonseed Meal for Feeding," Farmer's Bulletin No. 655. "Field Peas," Farmers' Bulletin No. 6qp. "Stock Losses from Poisonous Plants," Farmers' Bulletin No. 720. "Natal Grass," Farmer's Bulletin No. 726. "Contagious Abortion," Farmers' Bulletin No. 7QO. "Production of Baby Beef," Farmers' Bulletin No. 81 1. "Home-made Silos," Farmers' Bulletin No. 855. "Dehorning and Castration," Farmers' Bulletin No. 949. "Growing Beef on the Farm," Farmers' Bulletin No. 1073. Page Eighty-four >r*.OOiC^«NCO-HOC<5WcNJOJWeOTjOU5C5Tt(Tj<»--OOcO'f ^.•«tiC^'-iOC-.-HO5C<)t^cOX •CS'f C^COCCOOO5t^O3-*C$00 O5 ^J ooqcNioiNiOrtcoi-i'HX-^c^coroc'i^oio •t^.a>o5u-5rt!NeN'*coioc5r^TtiiortC-H •csoioqi^^xooot^oos^-i t- fee2pJp^«9oTV'*?5'^cN«o»V«ototN« 'co-^ioo" eSt^^otoaSe^eStot^oto '(N05"ioio-*ost^co^"»c^'"i' t-^ • r;oco-*Oi-<^HO5cocioxrot^o5X'--COO(NPOCNcOOO .COOO rt CO^HCO^HTttM'Jtr^eOCOCNcN .C >-"-l «-l ^^ 5^ CO *§ SSSS8S? Si^ OOOr^OOOXt C^'C cTo Ci t>» 00 CCC 1^- C -- 6l>O*Ci CO T^^H T ,io»coc C^-OrtiG OfNt^Sr -H ffi M CO < 5 O t>- 00 •* CM i V, ^ « -^— i cow CD u : i £'.''•'.'•:'•:; 3S -SM'S^i-s'So ^ :o:0y j ^ ^ >dd il ;«: JlSllSJSj! •S >1 al-i SS5i^2S • ^=s2>.a3^--£s3£o*^o .-eSS*! SodOStfh^SOoHJSS^Ofc^Pfc^ THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. OtC 27 1935 LIBRARY USE (J74737 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY