Farmer.^;' WrrJ,- i)> AgriculfxraJ f'dJlrgr. 173 



inarketed, and feed ac<?ordingiy, aud market at the time decided upon. 

 This thing of holding fat cattle waiting for a good market is very un- 

 profital^le and unsatisfactory. 1 invariably, when starting a bunch of 

 cattle on feed, decide within a week or ten days when I will market them, 

 feed accordingly, and market them regardless of conditions. I do not 

 mean that I would go on a demoralized market or if a strike was on, but 

 I l)elieve in marketing cattle when they are ready to go to market. There 

 are too many feeders who finish their cattle and then write to commis- 

 sion men and tell them they have some cattle ready for market and would 

 like to be advised as to when to have them there. They read the daily 

 market, get daily reports from commission men, and when market con- 

 ditions suit or they get tired of holding, they ship their cattle and find 

 there are many other feeders there with cattle and the market is a dis- 

 appointing one. We must remember that the good markets are shared 

 by few and the mean market hy many, and that is what makes the mean 

 market — too many get there at the same time. I will venture the asser- 

 tion here that if you will pick a dozen feeders from tliis audience and let 

 half of them feed cattle for the next five years and name their shipping 

 date ahead, whether three, six or eight months, and ship their cattle 

 at that time, they will strike as good average markets as will the other 

 six feeders who will first finish their cattle and wait for the market to 

 suit them. 



In regard to pork production in connection with steer feeding, I 

 want to say that the gain that hogs make on the corn actually consumed 

 by the cattle is greatly overestimated. You hear a feeder say, "Well, 

 my cattle did not do very well, but I sold $1,000 worth of hogs and had 

 $200 left.'" He leaves the impression that there has been $1,200 worth of 

 pork produced from the corn consumed by the cattle, when the fact of the 

 matter is the hogs were worth about $800 when they went into the feed 

 lot, and the gain the hogs made from corn actually consumed by the 

 cattle was very small compared with what they claimed it was. We can- 

 not profitably feed cattle without taking the hog into consideration, and 

 feeders ought to remember that when they are putting corn into that 

 form, so that the cattle will get the most possible out of it, there is not 

 quite so much left for the hogs, and I say that ear corn, where hogs can 

 follow the cattle, will give as satisfactory results one year with another, 

 taking into consideration beef and pork production, as most any form in 

 which you can feed the corn. Clover hay or alfalfa hay in connection with 

 corn is one of the best balanced rations that the farmer can produce on 

 the farm ; and if the feeder has clover or alfalfa for roughness, with corn 

 at 40 cents per bushel, I do not think he can afford to buy linseed meal 



