202 BOATED OF AGRTOULTtTRr.. 



I am. Ill the public sale uiuu will ol'lon Ijuy animals llioy Imvu no busi- 

 ness with. When they take the animals home thoy lind they have some- 

 thing they should not have. What is sucli a man lo do about itV lie 

 does not advertise, he has no reputation as a hrocdcr and he can not sell 

 the cattle. The result is they are dninpfd into somebody's public sale 

 and the owner gets rid of them in that way. There^ somebody picks 

 them up and they are carried along in tliat way, with their produce. It 

 seems like a hard matter to handle, but it usually results in a man get- 

 ting a taste for something better. Whether the imported cattle are 

 better than our own home-bred cattle, I am not prepared to say, but 1 

 think it is generally conceded that they bring more money. Go back a 

 few years to tli_e time when the Hereford and the Angus cattle began to 

 encroach upon the Shorthorn cattle, and what had we? We had Amer- 

 ican-bred cattle; we had had no importations for years. As soon as the 

 Hereford and Angus cattle began to come in Ave had to have a new class 

 of Shorthorns to meet them. Consequently, we went to England and 

 Scotland and bought Shorthorns. The record shows that this imported 

 blood mixed with our Americau-bred Shorthorns has produced the best 

 cattle we have ever known. I should say without hesitation, that of tw^o 

 animals of equal individual merit, one imported and the other home-bred, 

 I would give the most for the imported one, because the blood it carries 

 will be of the greatest benefit in our herds. 



Mr. Donley: But I don't believe in turning down home-bred cattle of 

 superior merit for imported animals. There is no question but that a 

 revolution has been worked in Shorthorn cattle by importations. 



Mr. Gartin: Mr. Robbins' remarks about the cheap animals, and the 

 fact that ninety per cent, of the successful breeders of Shorthorn cattle 

 today started with the cheaper animals, but had lost time by so doing, are 

 interesting. We have, however, examples that are quite different from 

 that. The lirst three registered cattle our President Bowen ever owned 

 cost him $3,300. That is a case where a man started at the top. I think 

 a man's means should govern, to some extent, his start. Mr. Ileagey 

 spoke of a man who began at the top and failed. I have a friend wiio 

 started at about the same time, but who had means, and he has means 

 today. In the other case, it may have been the fault of the man and not 

 the fault of the business. 



Mr. Robbins: I do not want to leave the impression that I think it 

 proper to start in with cheap cattle. I think a man makes a mistake 

 when he does that. I spoke of the place the cheap animal occupies. A 

 man often starts with cheap cattle, gets interested in the business, and 

 after a few years makes a new start with good cattle. When we started 

 in the business we bought some cheap cattle, but after a few years we 

 sold them all off and started again with good cattle. I think that is the 

 history of most of the breeders of the United States. 



