Show skill required for fattening 0 breeder breed er must now give more attention to feeding light animals by the th united states slum department of agriculture because of the til allier glier price of beef 1 smaller maller families and a smaller proportion p of the population doing heavy manual labor in recent years as compared with former years uie the consumer Is demand demanding log cuts 0 of beef cattle breeders bleeders bre eders and feeders have hare been gradually adjusting tbell operations to meet tills this change cl iange Irl instead stead of feeding the heavier type of beeves commonly marketed 40 bears ago at four or five years of age they are now feeding calves and year lings and marketing them when they weigh from TOO to 1200 pounds grow rather than fatten on account of the ter tendency dency of calves to grow rather than to fatten more ore skill Is required to fatten them s within athill a 2 reasonable time than Is dees necessary in the case of older cattle the several phases of the fattening of calves for market are discussed in farmers bulletin no 1410 GF G F fattening beet beef calves just issued by the united states department of agriculture ri in comparing the fattening of calves and older cattle tile alie bulletin lists several advantages in favor of calves the quantity of feed required to make a pound of gain increases as 83 the animal grows older calves make from 33 to 55 per cent more gain than mature cattle on the same quantity of feed fat open heifers heffers hei fers weighing lD from to pounds sell nearly I 1 as well as steers heavier heifers heffers are discriminated against because they have more internal tat and are not so well covered as steers and because being older the possibility of their being pregnant Is greater calves can be carried longer than mature steers when unexpected circumstances cum stances arise such as bad markets a strike or an embargo as they will retain their bloom longer after they are ready to market why not to fatten on the other band it Is not always advisable to fatten calves says the bulletin for the following reasons fattening calves require more attention and skill on the part of the man feeding them than Is the case with older cattle calves of slow maturing type will not fatten rapidly enough to to make desirable carens carcasses ses as yearlings yearnings year lings such calves should generally be carried about two years as stockers before they are fattened the total feed required to produce a fat three year old steer may be made up of a much larger proportion of linges hages than that required to produce a fat yearling mature cattle can eat coarser hages and broken ear corn much better than young cattle mature cattle may be fattened in a much shorter time than calves as they have only to fatten while calves glowas grow as well as fatten A copy of the bulletin may be ob bained by writing to the united states department of agriculture washington D C |