470 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



There are a few lessons that we ma}^ draw from a consultation of these ta- 

 bles, and perhaps one of the first is, there is something in the breed of an 

 animal, and that the ordinary farmer Avho is content to turn off his steers at 

 two or three years old, weighing from seven to nine hundred pounds, is not up 

 with the times and is not getting as good returns for money, feed and time 

 invested as tlie one who can make his steers weigh 1,200 pounds at the same 

 age, with the same effort. The breed that will mature the earliest tlien, other 

 things being equal, is the most profitable one for the farmer to keep. From 

 tlie results driven in the above tables we see that good results mav be obtained 

 from almost any of the breeds when well handled ; always remembering that 

 the smaller animals as a rule, consume less food if tliey have less record of 

 weight. 



Tlie lessons of the table would be more instructive if we could know the 

 history of each animal from birth to the date of the show, and thus know just 

 how it had been cared for and fed. In remarks accompanying, a few are no- 

 ticed : 



Nos. 7 and 8, of Short-horns, were not stabled, and only had pasture, hay 

 and corn, about 65 bushels each. 



The 7th prize steer, more than three-fourths Short-horn blood, had never 

 been under shelter, and had been fed corn and a few oats in tlic pasture. 



Another lesson from this show and these tables is, that we cannot afford to 

 keep beef animals until they are four or five years old. The average of in- 

 crease falls quite rapidly after three years, and the feed consumed is much 

 more in proportion. Even if kept and made very fat it scarcely pays, as the 

 fat will be scattered too much and not of value. 



The question may possibly arise as to the policy of shutting up these steers 

 that have been used to the range of fields. You may possibly think as I have 

 thought, that better results than these might be reached if they were shut up 

 and stall-fed. Without arguing the question, I give you the deduction made 

 from experiments at the Illinois Ind. University, under the direction of the 

 lamented W. 0. Flagg. After feeding lots of steers in various ways, he gives 

 this result : 



"Seven steers in barn, average 1.45 lbs, per day, and seven in yard, 2.3G 

 per day." Those in the barn received the better feed and care. He says that 

 these steers were of the common stock of the country, and showed more or less 

 of improved breeding. "As to methods of feeding and feed," the report 

 says: ''I am satisfied that in this climate, and with cattle we buy here, — 

 never having been handled, — that the best and cheapest mode of feeding is 

 to feed sliock corn in a sheltered yard." "Three things are essential : Good 

 cattle to feed, plenty of food and water, and a place to lie down out of wind 

 and snow." 



We have a State in wliicli we are peculiarly favored. It is filled witli min- 

 eral wealth ; we have an untold wealth in our forests, and in the area after 

 settled; we are not confined to anyone line of farming. We are sometimes 

 styled a wheat-growing commonweath, and I fear we are too much so. But 

 as our State grows older wc see a healthy development in almost every branch 

 of stock production, as well as in those productions obtained directly from the 

 soil. It is now estimated that the cattle in our State will not varv much from 

 350,000. 



TJicse are divided between the dairy interest and the beef interest; each 

 diverse from the other to a certain extent, but in the end merging into one. 



