4 The Bulletin. 



have been obtained by selling the feeding stuffs on the nearest market. 

 Butj with a proper appreciation of the necessity of feeding the prod- 

 ucts of the farm in order to maintain its fertility the feeding of cattle 

 has become a very important question concerning which many farmers 

 in the State desire information. 



On the following pages will be found a discussion of some of the 

 problems involved in the feeding of beef cattle in North Carolina. 



FEEDERS. 



The greatest difficulty in the way of successful cattle-feeding in 

 !N'orth Carolina is the scarcity of good cattle to feed. The production 

 of feeders is confined almost exclusively to a few counties west of the 

 Blue Ridge, and not more than four or five of these grow many cattle 

 for supplying more than local demands. 



That part of the State sufficiently near to this cattle-raising section 

 to enable it to obtain its feeders without the necessity of railroad 

 shipping has a great advantage over other parts of the State ; for 

 railroad freight rates on live-stock throughout a large part of the 

 South are almost prohibitive, and long shipments of feeders, followed 

 by long shipments of the finished cattle to find satisfactory markets, 

 operate to discourage and make unsuccessful the feeding of beef 

 cattle. 



Few really first-class feeders are produced in the State, but cattle 

 of fair quality may be had from Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga and a few 

 other of our mountain counties, at prices somewhat higher than the 

 same grade of cattle could be bought for in Chicago or the other 

 large markets. But those sections of the country which produce the 

 best feeders are beyond the reach of the iSTorth Carolina farmer, be- 

 cause of the distance and the accompanying high freight rates. This 

 makes the demand for such feeders of fair quality as are produced in 

 the State gi'eater than the supply, and enables our growers of feeders 

 to obtain higher prices for cattle, weighed right off the grass, than 

 shrunk cattle of the same quality could be bought for in Kansas City 

 or Chicago. But, as before stated, our distance from the sections 

 , where large numbers of good feeders are produced and the high freight 

 rates make it necessary that we obtain our feeders from the mountain 

 counties of this State when such is possible. From our present knowl- 

 edge and experience we would advise those living sufficiently close to 

 our best cattle-growing mountain counties to enable them to get their 

 feeders to their farms without railroad shipments, to buy the best 

 grade of these mountain feeders at the best weights and price possible, 

 rather than to feed the very low-grade stuff to be procured elsewhere 

 in the State, unless this can be bought at an extremely low price. 



Unless the prospective feeder is really a good judge of cattle he had 

 better pay some good buyer to purchase for him the cattle he needs. 



