LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 495 



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merits, in the order named. It is true that the Polled Angus steer " Dot 

 was awarded the sweepstakes prize in the ring as the best bullock of any 

 age or breed at the show, but he failed when put to the test of the block, in 

 the quality of the beef and the amount of dressed meat to the gross weight 

 of carcass. The Herefords this year, as they uniformly have done in years 

 past, both at Chicago and at the great Smith Field Show in England, car- 

 ried off the prize in quality of beef, marbling of the lean with fat, and 

 in the amount of dressed meat to the cwt. live weight, two of the butchered 

 steers dressing 70 pounds to the cwt. That grand representative of his 

 noble lineage, the Shorthorn steer "Chief Brant," stood a good second in 

 quality of cuts, and in many other respects was fully equal to the best. 



It was a grand sight when this noble and princely lot of well groomed cat- 

 tle was led into the prize ring, for the judges to pass their opinion, and 

 award the blue ribbon. Cruel, it seemed to me, that man should be obliged 

 to shed such royal blood to satisfy his appetite. 



These finished steers, for show purposes, are not produced by the general 

 farmer, or by ordinary feeding, and I only speak of them to remind you of 

 what can be done by careful selection and proper feeding. 



"How can I make the most and best beef, in the shortest time, with the 

 least expenditure of food and labor?" is the question the ordinary farmer 

 asks and is interested in having answered. My reply is: Select a good breed 

 to begin with. Cross with the best dams you can get. Have your calves 

 come early. It is better to have your calves dropped in January than June, 

 whether they are to be hand fed or dam fed. Keep adding to the calf from 

 the day of its birth, until sold to the butcher. Never let him lose his kidney 

 fat. Always keep pushing him ahead. After the first two weeks, if brought 

 up by hand, feed skim milk or sour milk, five quarts a day, with hay or 

 clover tea enough to make it twelve, with a few handf uls of ground feed 

 {oats and corn) added. Keep them warm and clean, well rubbed and bed- 

 ded, with abundance of pure water to drink. The water should always have 

 the chill taken off in winter to insure the best results. Give them early 

 cut, well cured clover hay between meals, with a ration of roots, mangels, 

 bagas or carrots, daily. In the summer they should have good pasture, 

 with plenty of good, wholesome, pure water to drink at all times when they 

 choose to go to it. 



The second winter they can be kept growing, and in good condition, on 

 coarse fodder, as hay, corn stalks, straw, millet, with a daily ration of roots 

 if you can spare them. Open sheds to lie under. 



The third winter they ought to be fed unhusked corn stalks once a day, in 

 the morning (followed by swine to pick up the leavings), a ration of roots 

 at mid-day, and hay at night. Fed in this way, with open yards to run in, 

 and open sheds to lie under and protect them from storms, with a good bite 

 of pasture in the spring, for a few weeks before marketing, they will be ripe 

 for the butcher's block, and will bring the top of the market, and pay a good 

 profit to the farmer. There is scarcely a farmer in Genesee county but 

 what could raise and turn off two, three or more such steers every year, and 

 help, in this way, to enrich himself, besides aiding in supplying the home 

 market with choice beef. 



There is another plan which might be adopted by the farmers of this 

 State and county in producing the best quality of beef at a profit. This is 

 by keeping more work cattle on their farms instead of horse teams. For 



