No. 6. - DBPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 349 



1U3S pound and 1185 pound yearlings sold at |6 and. f 6.25 respeetivelj 

 while poor quality and poorly linished lOOU to 1200 pound 'so-called' 

 fat cattle sold as low as |3.()0 to |4.(H). But, tlien again, compara- 

 tively few even 'fair kind' of killing steers sold below $4.75 while 

 a number of choice 9U0 to 1100 pound 'well finished' yearlings, in- 

 cluding steers and heifers mixed, went at |o.00 to |5.75. On the 

 other hand choice 1500 to 1600 averages sold at |5.75 to |6.10, with 

 a 'sprinkling' at $6.15 to $6.25, but these prices will undoubtedly 

 look low after a while, unless all signs fail." 



The point I wish to make here is that we have reached the time 

 when the Eastern farmer must be upon the market with choice 1200 

 pound steers, that will sell as high or higher than any other steer 

 that can be grown. Now, if we are going to grow 1200 pound steers, 

 I think we should establish pretty clearly what kind of a steer that 

 steer must be. That steer will not be one that has come from a 

 cross between some beef breed and a dairy breed, nor will he be a 

 steer that is made up of some dairy breed. He will be a steer of 

 a pronounced beef breed. He will be a steer possibly — probably of 

 one of the three or four great beef breeds. If not, he will have a 

 large percentage of the blood, and at least one or two crosses of 

 the best beef breeds. I am not here to advocate any particular 

 breed of cattle. I care not what the breed is, so that the animal is 

 made right, and is of the right stamp, and has the right standard. 

 There are four or five good beef breeds, and any one of them will 

 make a good beef steer if fed right, and I will say that with the par- 

 ticular breed a man likes best he will succeed best. All things 

 being equal — I would prefer him to be hornless, because it aids 

 largely to safety in handling him. I think I hardly need describe to 

 this audience what this steer should look like. He should be well 

 built and he should be compact, pretty close to the ground; the 

 closer the better; I have never seen one too close to the ground; the 

 bone and the muscle should be fine, and he should be well rounded 

 out. His back should be especially good. He should be wide across 

 the shoulders, and wide behind the shoulders, and wide all the way 

 back. The shape of the back should be arched, like this, not hol- 

 low, like that. Frequently you will see the back of an oval shape, 

 and when you see in a steer that is broad in the back, a tendency to 

 let the back down, I would rather see it than have the back up. 

 Then I want the hind quarters well rounded out, and well built, and 

 then I want a nice head on this steer. A nice head. I have heard 

 a good many old fanciers say that if they saw the head of the steer 

 coming round the corner of the barn, they could tell the character 

 of the steer from it. I don't doubt it, and I have no doubt that there 

 are men in this audience who can say the same thing. It should be 

 remembered that the short head means an easy feeder. The long 

 headed steer is not an easy feeder. Then I want quality, and I 

 want a steer that is full of quality. I never heard anybody who 

 could define what quality is, and do it well. Quality is one of the 

 best things you can have in a steer. When a steer is easily finished 

 and you can see the muscles stick out over the fat when he walks 

 around you, when he is well rounded, and firm, not too firm, but 

 just firm enough, he has quality; you can't tell just what it is; you 

 must see it, and become acquainted. It is one of those things that 

 when you see a steer that has it, it will almost make the saliva 



