534 Missouri Agricidtural Report. 



are bred on the farm and developed on the farm, it gives to the boy 

 a sense of responsibility, a sense of sympathy that he cannot get in 

 any other manner. 



In regard to the production of feeders, I will say that I have 

 bought as good feeding cattle in Missouri as in any state in the 

 Union. It is possible to feed and develop on your native blue grass 

 pastures with grain and clover, alfalfa and cowpeas, cattle that 

 are equal to those of any other section of the world. When you 

 get into the production of feeders, then you will have different 

 problems than in the feeding of cattle. Those of you who have 

 bought cattle on the market and finished them out, often had to 

 pay just as much attention to cattle of inferior quality as to the 

 fancy individuals because they could be handled with equally as 

 great profit. Whenever any community as a whole goes into the 

 production of cattle for the feed lot, there will be found a better 

 grade and better class of feeders than, you can buy anywhere in the 

 markets of the country. Whenever I buy good cattle, I find that I 

 am buying from a man who is right up in the business, who knows 

 the value of blood, who knows the value of cattle and who does not 

 care to sell unless he thinks he is getting a little bit more than they 

 are worth. 



While this is not a talk on the handling of pure-bred cattle, I 

 might say that during the last six months there has not been a 

 week when a load of cattle fed in Missouri and shipped to the 

 Kansas City or St. Louis markets has not sold for enough money to 

 have enabled a man to take the actual cash that he got out of those 

 cattle and invest it in pure-bred cows and thus improve his herd, 

 so while we have discussed this from the standpoint of market 

 cattle, it is possible for us to trade our good grade cattle for pure- 

 bred cattle and thus build up the live stock industry in the State as 

 a whole. But we will find that the most profitable line of live stock 

 farming will be that which is well adapted to the farm upon which 

 the cattle are produced. That is, the feeding and handling of beef 

 cattle is largely an individual matter, and what one man can do 

 on his farm is not necessarily the same that should be followed on 

 the adjoining farm. Where he has an abundance of pasture, he 

 can afford to let his feeders become a little older before selling for 

 market. Where the land is of a different nature and capable of 

 plowing, then it is best to feed out the calves as rapidly as possible. 



I think I have taken all the time allotted to me, and I wish to 

 sum it up in this manner: That the beef cattle-breeding business 



