Farmers' Week in Agricultural College. 



167 



be included ; in fact, whatever is of common interest to the beef pro- 

 ducers is within the scope of the Association. 



Special meetings may be called by the president whenever the con- 

 ditions seem to justify it. An effort will also be made throughout the 

 year to encourage co-operation among members and to keep in touch 

 with the cattle feeding situation wdthin the State. 



BUYING, FEEDING AND SELLING THE STEER FOR PROFIT. 



(J. G. Imboden, Decatur, Illinois.) 



It is certainly gratifying to me to see such an 

 audience of men interested in the agricultural and 

 live stock industries of a great State. No matter 

 how rich our farms may be we cannot continually 

 crop them without exhausting the fertility of the 

 soil, and if we hope to maintain the fertility or add 

 to it we nuist handle live stock in connection with 

 agriculture ; and while there may not always be a 

 direct profit in dollars at the time, there is a profit 

 that comes to us indirectly later in the maintained 

 J. G. Imboden. increased fertility of our land. 



I am to have thirty minutes to consider the question of buying, feed- 

 ing and selling the steer for profit — not a long time to buy, feed and 

 sell a steer, but sometimes we feeders would be better off if we only 

 owned a steer for thirty minutes, for unfortunately we own him too long 

 in many cases. If I were to tell you that during the 25 years I have 

 been feeding cattle I never bought a load of cattle too high, never fed 

 any that did not make a satisfactory gain, and never marketed any on 

 a mean market, ypu would know I was not telling the truth, or that I 

 had handled very few cattle. My experience has been just the experi- 

 ence of every feeder here who has been long in the business and of every 

 feeder who will remain long in the business. I have bought cattle too 

 high ; I have fed them where they did not make satisfactory gains, and 

 I have marketed them on very mean markets. There is an element of 

 chance in our feeding operations which we cannot escape, and if a man 

 is not willing to take some risk he will never make a cattle feeder. And 

 the question of feeding these cattle for profit is one that should greatly 

 concern every man interested in the business. The older feeders, the 

 men who have made much money in feeding cattle, are today practically 

 out of the business, and the feeding operations on the farm are now con- 

 ducted by their sous or tenants, but when the father or the landlord 



