694 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



CATTLE— BEEP BREEDS. 



There are always several distinctive features about the Iowa State 

 Fair showing of beef cattle. In the first place, Des Moines is in the 

 very center of the great corn belt and easily reached by all breeders. 

 Then the Iowa show is the first on the list, w'hich arrangement further 

 aids in having a grand opening review of all herds before they separate 

 to go on the eastern and western circuits. Perhaps in some ways the 

 exhibition is a little less satisfactory than after the animals have become 

 accustomed to the show ring and have settled down to the somewhat ser- 

 ious business of showing. Nevertheless, the Iowa contests are history 

 makers with all the breeds and are becoming more and more popular 

 each year. But desirable conditions are not the only factors w^hich make 

 for the success of the Iowa cattle shows — Governor Packard and his able 

 corps of assistants really deserve more credit than they are sometimes 

 given. The way these men get acquainted with the needs of exhibitors 

 and then set about to supply them is worthy of commendation. Just a few 

 of the other fair managers could learn a thing or two from the Iowa boys 

 in regard to the courtesies due the men, who w'ith their herds, are freight- 

 ing about from fair to fair cheerfully putting up with many an inconven- 

 ience and hardship. 



SHOKT-HOBNS. 



Captain T. E. Robson, of London, Ontario, has certainly been making 

 good with the Short-horn exhibitors at Des Moines in recent years, for 

 he was selected to pick the winners again this season. In practically 

 every class this year he was confronted by as many or more entries than 

 he was a year ago. He found this season's showing of young things even 

 a stronger aggregation than that appearing before him in 1908, but the 

 cows and bulls, taken as a lot, were scarcely up to the same standard. As 

 might be reasonably expected, some of the most promising animals on 

 last season's circuit have completely fallen from grace, while others, from 

 which much less w^as anticipated, have come on in a most gratifying 

 manner. In the aged bull class nearly all the prize winners were play- 

 ing new parts. The most likely candidate for the blue was Harding's 

 Sidelight, a bull sired by Royal Wonder, formerly in the Anoka herd and 

 later in service on the Burwood Stock Farm, near Milwaukee, Wis. Side- 

 light has been out of the Anoka barns and pastures for some time, but 

 George Simms has a peculiar knack in getting just such individuals into 

 shape. Everett Hayes' bull, Snowflake, continues to be a consistent con- 

 testant. A year ago he drew second in the two-year-old class at Des 

 Moines and at Kansas City as w^ell. This year he crowded hard for the 

 same position in the line, but was compelled to step down for Dunwoody's 

 Nonpareil Marquis. King Cumberland, the grand champion at the 1908 

 American Royal and International, has undisputed claim to the premier 

 position among the two-year-olds and later walked handily into the grand 

 championship. This famed son of Cumberland's Last has made a splendid 

 growth during the past eight months. When it came to the aged cows 

 some more discoveries were made and in a few instances the placing did 



