670 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



a large type of cattle composed about equally of cows, calves, year- 

 liii<;« aud two-year olds. And if our visit is in the spring oy early 

 summer we w^ould see a bunch of three-year old steers. In looking 

 over the herd we find the breeding stock are a large uniform lot well 

 adapted for the production of milk aud beef cattle that commanded 

 the highest market price. Among the rest of the herd all are vigor- 

 ous and rarely any in the finished beef condition except the three- 

 year old steers or a two-year old heifer that was not considered 

 desirable to replace a cow. With that the owmer would often have 

 to sell his Ohio neighbor or the eastern shippers. While the grow- 

 ing of beef was their specialty, the sales of fresh cows added con- 

 siderably to the farms income, some years being equal to the amount 

 received for the finished steers, which were all generally sold in the 

 spring or early summer. 



By closely adhering to this specialty the farmers marketed in a 

 condensed form the most of his feed products of the farm, thereby 

 enabling him to improve the fertility of his land by the use of a good 

 supply of home manufactured fertilizer, commonly known as ''barn 

 3^ard brand," but never offered for sale by the agents of commercial 

 fertilizers, whose gooT.s only prostrate our soils, give us more ex- 

 perience and has already taken cash enough from our country to 

 make our roads equal to the finest pavements of our cities. As crop 

 failures and empty feed bins, and I might say, mortgages and hay 

 presses w^ere unknown on those farms, it is needless for us to linger 

 there, although all other departments show benefits gained through 

 the cattle department, so we will return to the present conditions. 



How changed to-da}' is this industry. Once one of our greatest re- 

 sources now driven out by the little Jersey, the hay press and keen 

 competition of the Western states with their cheap grains and early 

 maturing cattle known on the market as prime cattle or baby beef. 

 Some of us have changed by rejjlacing the old established reds and 

 roans with the dairy breeds, while others are striving to make both 

 ends meet by feeding their high-priced grain to a steer of so much 

 mixed breeding that it has been necessary for the owner to give a 

 statement with each steer to assure the buyer there was any meat 

 on the ends or middle either. 



Being somewhat of a specialist, as I grow beef animals, not for 

 beef but for breeding stock and have always aimed to produce the 

 market topping beef animal, that I do not doubt for a moment, my 

 friends, that we can grow as fine beef animals to-day on our farms 

 by adhering to the Angus type, with any of the beef breeds. But 

 the more Angus blood your herd contains the greater your chances 

 of topping the market and winning the best prizes at the Chicago 

 International. If we only have what the best market demands and 

 we can easily grow the prime beef steer if Ave start with good in- 

 dividuals. Give them good feed, good care and keep improving our 

 herds by overcoming their weak points. 



Although w'e are not the owners of new soils w'e have many ad- 

 vantages over our western competitors, one or two which I will 

 mention, is: A greater variety of forage, better water and climate 

 for grazing, also the silo, which should be on every farm. We are 

 nearer the markets that are now being supplied by Armour & Co., 

 Swift & Morris and other dressed meat firms of the West, who are 

 sending train loads of their meat aud meat products in their own 



