170 Missouri Agric til ( ural Report. 



formation gained tliere, I learned that a great many of the small section 

 men there — that is, men owning from three to five or ten sections of land 

 — are entirely out of tlie cattle business, and the large ranchmen, with 

 scarcely an exception, have reduced their breeding herds very materially 

 in the last few years. The two weeks I was in Texas there were over 

 22,000 calves marketed on the Ft. Worth market, and if that doesn't 

 mean a future shortage of cattle it seems very strange to me. 



The question of buying these steers, is one that interests every 

 feeder here. I am often asked what kind of 'cattle I like to handle, and 

 I invariably tell the feeders I like the color of a good steer. I like to 

 feed and handle good ones, but when I am buying cattle to put in the 

 feed lot I will buy most any kind if the seller will take my })rice. If I 

 go to a seller who has a bunch of cattle of choice breeding and quality 

 that just suits me, the seller has much to do in naming the price. If, on 

 the other hand, yoii go to a seller who has some cattle to sell that do not 

 suit you, that do not suit the owner, and that do not suit any other fel- 

 low looking for cattle to put in the feed lot, you must remember then 

 that the buyer has much to do in naming the price, and he can often 

 buy at a price that will realize you a greater profit than if he had bought 

 high class feeders at fancy prices. Now, don't understand me as advocat- 

 ing the breeding, growing and feeding of common and mean cattle. It 

 cannot profitably be done. But I am speaking from the standi)oint of a 

 feeder and not from the standpoint of a breeder. Remember this one 

 thing if you forget all else I say to you : If you are breeding your cat- 

 tle or buying calves or yearlings, buy all the quality and breed all the 

 quality you possibly can. If you nuist buy plain and common cattle, 

 buy at a plain price, and buy cattle with age and turn on a short feed. 

 I have bought cattle and put in the feed lot that cost me $5 a hundred. 

 I have bought other cattle about the same weight at $3.50 a hundred and 

 from that to $5 a hundred, and fed them together, and at market time 

 there woidd be about 50 to 75 cents difference between them, going on 

 the same market as finished beef. Remember, the quality of meat is 

 something that is fed into the animal ; that is the quality that is demand- 

 ed by the consumer. The conformation and type and breed character- 

 istics must be bred into the animal ; that is the quality that is demanded 

 by the consumer. But when we look at it from the standpoint of a 

 feeder, he must remember that he must place his money in that steer 

 which he thinks will realize him the greatest profit on the investment. 

 The trouble the last few years has been that the margin has been too 

 small between the cost of the feeder steer and the cost of the finished 

 steer when it goes to market. And I don't see anything in the future 



