| Show advantages OF BAB BABY Y BEEF BEE F production 7 Z 0 0 a registered HEREFORD USED IN GRADING UP HERD prepared by the united states department of agriculture because the average consumer prefers the size and quality of the cuts obtained from the carcass of a well bred highly finished yearling the market price for what Is known as baby beet beef Is usually both a little higher and a little more stable than that for any other class of cattle from the farmers point of 0 view the production of baby beet beef means that he can get more gains for the same quantity of feed than with mature cattle that he can turn over the money invested in his live stock in a shorter time that he can obtain for his young heifers heffers approximately the same price as for his steers which Is not true when marketing Is put off until the animals are older and that lie he can within limits defer or hasten the date of marketing as market conditions dictate for these reasons the baby beet beef industry Is increasing rapidly in popularity throughout the country in farmers bulletin the best methods of breeding and handling baby beeves are discussed in detail the first conclusion of this publication Is that the right kinds of cows and bulls should be used in selecting cows from which baby beef Is to be produced three important factors should be kept in mind 1 the cows should have at least a fair amount of beef blood purebreds are not necessary essory but two or three crosses of such breeding are essential cows with a preponderance of jot dairy blood will not do for the production of baby beef 2 cows best suited for this type of breeding usually weigh goo pounds or over in thrifty breeding condition As long as early maturity Is not sacrificed the heavier cows are the most suitable for baby beef production size of frame rather than weight should govern the selection of cows which are to be used for this purpose 3 the cows used to produce baby beeves should produce enough milk to keep the calves fat and growing without much additional feed up to weaning time in addition to these three factors color size and early maturity should be considered type of bulls to be used As a general way may be said that lack of excellence in any one or all of the abovementioned above mentioned points in the cow may be offset through additional excellence in the herd bull some bulls seem to have sufficient prepotency to stamp their own excellence of form type and quality u upon pon their calves regardless gard less of the hind of cows in the herd such a bull Is a very valuable asset to any breeder and it Is unfortunate that we cannot tell absolutely what a bull will do in this respect until his offspring are seen A bull coming from a line of ancestry which has been noted for its excellence of type quality milk producing ability and early maturity Is more than likely to be a producer of animals like himself this together with individual excellence cel lence la in the bull Is the only standard we have for forecasting the type of calves which an untried bull will ket get for the producer ot of baby beet beef the additional sum paid for a good bull Is money well spent above all a breeder in selecting a bull should procure one of good beef form and with a strong tendency toward earliness earll ness of maturity to a very large extent the breeders bleeders bre eders success in raising and feeding baby beeves will depend upon the bulls ability to transmit this latter character to his calves quality and excellence of form in calves cannot be obtain obtained ed from poor breeding calves suitable for baby beef calves to quality qualify as baby beet beef must have quality and finish the consumer does not want the tha unfinished yearling and the calf that does not have quality will not tako take on a high finish neither will the calf lacking in early maturing qualities fatten during tho the latter part ot the feeding period but instead it will use most of the feed which it consumes for growth keeping this in mind the feeder should first cirit determine whether his calves are good enough to compete on the fat yearling market and it if he decides that they fire are not they should be bill finished shed off on coarser feeds tor for a later market the wide deep bodied thick fleshed calf with short legs and on an abundance of quality as indicated by fineness of hair texture of skin smoothness of flesh and general refinement about the head and other parts of the body Is the type best suited tor for making prime baby beet beef uniformity in size weight an nd d color should not be overlooked because ca U se such factors are an advantage in marketing these points are ot of great importance in selecting calves to be finished as baby beef and they de serve the 0 uric test attention the size of the he t breeding hedd head Is la III practice determined chiefly by the amount of pasture and the amount of roughage available great care must be taken that the pastures are not overstocked over stocked good bluegrass or clover should carry from 50 to cows per acres ner e s but on other pastures with the exception of wheat oats oi or other small grains the capacity rainy may run from 50 head to as low as five head per acres it Is not profitable at prevailing prices to buy roughage hage and as this should constitute the basal ration for the breeding cows it Is not usually addan advantageous t ageous for the farmer to attempt to keep more than can be fed on the home grown roughage at his disposal on the other hand the herds should be large enough for the owner to market at one time a carload of baby beeves or from 20 to 27 head in certain instances there may be satisfactory and economical ways of disposing of the beeves in less than carload lots but in general the expense involved in this method of marketing materially reduces the profits pr from feeding |
