248 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



I talk to you with reference to the profitable breeding and feed- 

 ing of beef cattle. lieef cattle have not been prominent in Penn- 

 sylvania. As 3'ou well know the tendency of beef i)roduction has 

 been westward continuously for a large number of years. But as 

 the West has filled uj) and Ihe large ranges have been cut up into 

 farms it is becoming a question more of farming in the West. The 

 tendency of the beef cattle production is again eastward because 

 the process of making beef in the West is becoming more and 

 more expensive. Eastern farmers were driven out of the business 

 largely because it was not profitable. The matter was so much 

 more simple in the West and the expense was so important an item 

 that it made it almost impossible for eastern breeders to compete 

 against the western breeders of beef cattle. 1 am not altogether 

 sure that we have yet arrived at the period when we can say that 

 the breeding grounds for beef cattle can be moved to the East. I 

 may simply say that the tendency is again eastward; and this is 

 very natural because the people who eat the best beef are the east- 

 ern people. There are no people so well located for the market 

 of the peojjle who eat the best beef as the people of Ohio and Penn- 

 sylvania. 1 understand very well that Pennsylvania has large dairy 

 interests, and naturally so, because a good many people who con- 

 sume these things are here in the State, therefore it is necessary 

 for you to produce those things which pertain to the dairy. And 

 so, the breeders throughout Pennsylvania are, of course, more con- 

 versant and have made quite a study of the problem of dairy feed- 

 ing and breeding. 



The problem of breeding beef cattle and the feeding of beef cattle 

 is not diflerent particularly from that of the breeding and feeding 

 of dairy cattle. You will find, T think, that it will require the same 

 amount and the same character of brains to make a success in the 

 one that it will in the other. If any man thinks that he can suc- 

 cessfully ])roduce beef cattle in a haphazzard, easy way, without 

 any ex})ense and without any effort, I plead with him not to under- 

 take it and expect to be successful. There is nothing that is worth 

 attaining that comes without great effort. 



As it occurs to me, the problem you will have to deal with more 

 than any other, is the character of the cattle that you are going 

 to breed .and feed. The people to whom you will sell demand the 

 best. They are not satisfied with ordinary beef. They can afford 

 to buy the best. They have the money with which to pay for it 

 and it becomes the business of the farmer to satisfy that demand. 

 That demand is not one which is decreasing, but one which is in- 

 creasing. Now when you stop for a moment and think you realize 

 That everybody in this country wants to eat loin stake and the 

 choice cuts of the beef animal. Nobody seems to be content with 

 the flank steaks and with the inferior parts of the beef animal. 

 Permit me to say that that is one of the things that enters into the 

 liigh cost of living — that everybody wants to eat the superior parts 

 of the nnimal. Now we have this with which to contend: about 

 two-thirds of the value of an animal, as it hangs in the butcher 

 shop, is contained in a little over one-fourth of that carcass; about 

 sixty-four per cent, of the value of that animal is contained in about 

 twenty-eight per cent, of that carcass. Now, I don't think that I 

 need say very much more to convince you of the high importance 



