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Show IMPROVEMENT MADE IN MODERN TYPE OF BABY BEEF ANIMAL lv Predicted It Will Continue lo Increase In Popularity In Thoae, j , Districts Where Formers Do Not Wish to Dntry Vaat Hangs Areas In West Have Deen Cut Up Into Small Farms. I A Bunch of Prlis Winning Fccdsra. f Twenty five years ago ihe popular beef antmal was a tnoiintuto of meat and tallow. I'aature land was cl p and labor low In price; so the raiser eould afford to keep the animal until It weighed a Ion hefoie pulling It on the uisiket. The buyer annted thla kind of animal, for meat was rheap and Ihe consumer could buy large cuts. Hut new factors have brought shout a change In values. As land and labor Increased In price the farmer found thai the longer he kepi an animal the more of hla labor went In maintenance and thla lessened his profit Just that much. Then he found that the higher priced lands could not be used (or beef end that there wss more money In rnlalng corn. 80 men whn had been engnged In raising cattle cat-tle for market alarled rulalng corn, and bought their ateers from those occupying cheap lands and finished Ihrui off themselvea. Throughout the corn belt the popular ateer has ranged for It 10 31) months uld, says the lloniealesd. The majority of fattened steers went to market at SO montha, weighing from l.buO to 1.150 pounds. The farmer preferred lo feed Ibeaa ! Bnltnala hncauau llir waa nritllv a good demand for Ih.'ni In the market. mar-ket. When purrhaaed from wealern rattle raisers they were In thin roil-illlon, roil-illlon, but were rugged, thrifty,' had good appetites, and were In the best bape to make rapid gains. . puling the lest few years, due to the fact that lbs ahvap .Industry haa. been. enorQachu nv the land tf the est, and Irrigating projects hare made fnilt raising successful, -vast range areas have been rul Into atuall rarma for settlers Who hava no money to Invest In cattle. Then, too, great oumbare of cows and young stock are being sent to market each year, wllh a consequent decrease In Ihe number Of breeding animals on the range. Une of the greatest problems that con-fronts con-fronts the rattle feeder of today la where to get hold of fcedera. A number of people who used to feed cattle till St or Si) months of sge tn the corn belt are attempting to raise their own ralvea and market them around 11 months of age or between be-tween the agea of II and Id mouths, and weighing from sou to 1.000 pounds. Tills Is what Is known aa the "baby beef" proposition, and It Is a question that la rnlllng more Interest In-terest every ysar among cattle feeders feed-ers and producers. Ilaby beef hss not been popular wllh sleer feeders because under conditions condi-tions formerly existing the man on the range could produce I hem more cheaply than Ihe man In Ihe corn belt could buy them. The extra lond necee-sary necee-sary for maintaining breeding rows eould he used fur rorn; Ihe feeding period of Ihe baby beef anlninl lasted from a lo or II montha, while that tif Ihe (4 and 30-ninnlhsold steer only lasted from HO lo Ida days. Then, too, greater uniformity and more Indications Indica-tions of belter breeding are noresssry In the baby beef propoalilon In feeding jilt older rattle Orealer skill In feeding feed-ing and raring for the young anliuuls Is also neresssry than In the rase of Ihe older ones whose appetites do not have to be catered to. The killer also discriminated agulnat the younger animal ani-mal because the rarraaa of the older animal usually carried a little firmer fleah than the young animal, and there la leas water In the rareaaa. so thai they kill out a larger per rent, of good meat. The feeder himself found that unless he rxerrlaed great vlgllanre, ihe young anlmsls shrunk more In being be-ing shipped tu market and lln illy the ronsumer favored the meat f rum the alder animal. If the cattle feeder alma to produce his own feeders, he cunnot afford to let hla calves lose whst Is known as 'calf fat." It Is well known that young aiilmnla gain more rapidly In proportion propor-tion to their live weight and to 100 pounds of food than do ldr animals That Is, Ihey not only made more economical use nf their feed thsn the older nnlmala. but Ihey lake a shorter time to make a certain total gain. The man who turna off a aleer that welgba I. ono pounds, has. If that ralf weighed loo pounds al birth, been given 10 per rem. or the total weight by the dam, while the man who keeps the animal till It weighs l.sr.il 'pounds hss been given only g per cent. The men who can make a ateer weigh t.ooo at IK months hss more return for hi trouble than the man who keepa It S4 months, wllh an additional weight of only 2TiO pounds.. Iluti hers, too, have changed lo suit the demand of the consumer. Al-though Al-though meat Is generally considered a luxury In Ihe diet of Ihe poor man's family. It still remains an absolute necrHstls: In the diet of the better classes. Hut, where people formerly ordered large rosats and Bleaks, Ihey are ordering Bleaks and rosals now Hist are from 60 to 76 per cent, email er on account of Ihe atlvanced prlrea. They tlud that If Ihey get a small mast from a large animal that It la "long" on bone. The butrher then to-suit to-suit the demands for smaller bone demands de-mands smaller animals; and during the last tew monies Ihey have' bees willing lo (jffur,' iioi '.a nreirilu,in, on "- - ' Hi in hut nii 100 fa' ! eanosrned. But they , have - - ' brought the price or small ateera up bo close to that of the large ones that there la really a premium on little sleera when we consider the coat of production . . ' We do not think . that the 1. 100-pound 100-pound ateer will ever be entirely eliminated from the market, .but we do think (If a conjecture la allowable) that the baby beef animal will con-tlnue con-tlnue to Inrreaae In popularity In thoae districts where men do not wish to dairy. |