HOW SHALL WE IMPROVE OUR COMMON CATTLE? 113 



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treatment in substance, was followed through its life ; and though during the 

 .■summer the cattle ranged through the woods and generally got sleek and fat 

 by fall, yet they would in the course of the following winter, running at the 

 •straw stack, lose much of their weight and all of their fat, so that when full 

 ^rown they would not bring enough to pay for even this poor care. 



A case in point. A blacksmith in a \illage, having a favorite cow with a 

 heifer calf, fed it fairly well the first summer and then hired a farmer to let it 

 Tun with his herd until it became a cow, agreeing to pay 25 cents per week for 

 its care and keep in winter, and nothing for summer. When three years old, 

 although an average good one, it would not sell for enough to pay the bill. He 

 •concluded he had better buy his cows in future, and I venture the assertion, 

 that nine out of every ten of the cattle raised in this State do not pay their 

 •owners for their care and keep. 



I will now briefly give you my plan for stopping the waste. First, give your 

 calf enough food adapted to its wants to keep it growing, the faster the better, 

 pnever allowing it to stop for even one day, and if you find it is not a good 

 ieeder, as some few are not, being naturally delicate or dainty, sell it to the 

 (butcher or eat it yourself, and you will find some profit; but if it responds (as 

 dt generally will) to your generous treatment, follow it up and see that it does 

 not want for anything as long as it lives with you ; you can always sell it at a 

 profit, besides having the satisfaction of viewing and showing your friends the 

 contented, sleek beast, which I know you can have. 



The trudsm, a liberal hand maketh rich, is especially true in this connection. 

 Illustrations might be cited in any number, but I will only call your atten- 

 tion to a few in our own neighborhood. A man in Oakland by the name of 

 Sherman (he may be here) sold to a butcher three yearling steers that 

 weighed over 1,000 pounds each, receiving over $50 for each. Who says 

 that didn't pay? and upon inquiry I found them but common grades. Mr. 

 Tiukin, of this town, can convince the most skeptical that good care pays, 

 .having furnished some five young beeves for your market, and at your fairs 

 shown what good care would produce, besides selling two grades for $100 and 

 -$90 respectively, when, if they had been handled in the ordinary way, they 

 would not have been worth $25 each. Two farmers of this county had some calves 

 •of the same breeding and about equal individual merit, dropped in the spring. One, 

 by good care and generous feed, was enabled to sell his at $50 each, the buyer 

 refusing to take those raised by the other man at $20 each (although he wanted 

 more animals), saying that he would be ashamed to take them home, and they 

 were finally sold in April for $15 each, while the best were sold in January 

 before, thus saving about three months' feed. 



The fact is apparent that it never did pay to keep stock in the careless man- 

 iner so generally in vogue in the early settlement of this county and practiced 

 by many yet. 



The scrub must go. The time has come when, with our high-priced land 

 :and the sharp competition of the West, we must produce something good or go 

 out of the bushiess. I have pointed out the way to partial success; a higher 

 plane may bfi reached by the infusion of improved blood. Having first deter- 

 mined upon taking good care of our stock, we look about to see if we can't find 

 .something better than we have. 



Shorthorns are grand, and Herefords are fine and contend strongly for first 

 place, and sometimes get there, as witness the result at the last Fat Stock Show. 

 Holstein-Friesians are wonderful milkers and good feeders and are claimed to 

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