TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV 145 



lost in feeding cattle in recent years. The loss has been calculated not 

 upon the absolute basis, but upon the fact that frequently the corn would 

 have brought more if sold on the open market than it brought when fed 

 to cattle. How recent prices of corn have been maintained is a mystery 

 to the writer, but one thing is sure — the moment corn ceases to be fed 

 to any great extent to animals, that moment will the bottom drop out 

 of the price; and if people generally should go out of the cattle busi- 

 ness somewhat suddenly, we should find the collapse not only in the 

 corn market, but in financial circles as well. 



There is no doubt of the fact that if a farmer can market his corn and 

 his alfalfa on the hoof year in and year out at anything like the prices 

 that prevail in the open market, he and his farm will be better ofi; for it, 

 and I hope for the time when we shall assume that animal production on 

 the farm is a legitimate part of the business to be engaged in, from the 

 same principle as we practice the rotation of crops. In general, I sup- 

 pose the lands best suited for grain production will be used for that pur- 

 pose, and the rougher lands will constitute the ranges for our live stock; 

 but, after all, the cattle that are raised and the crops that are to feed 

 them should not be produced too far apart. Like coal and iron, the 

 profits are better when the two commodities are produced in close proxim- 

 ity, and the nicest problem of American agriculture today, as I regard it, 

 is the working out of methods by which high-class live stock, especially 

 cattle, may be produced on an economic basis in our corn-growing dis- 

 tricts. In settling this question, all matters of speculation will have to 

 be eliminated. 



Considering the length of time since the best European breeds were in- ■ 

 troduced into this country, it is marvelous how many scrubs we have 

 contrived to produce on American farms. Why w-e do it is a mystery, 

 but we do it. In some way or other the attitude of the American farmer 

 toward his cattle is wrong. He has much more respect for his hogs and 

 his sheep, and horses stand high in his regard. All of them are of much 

 better quality than his cattle, and command higher prices in the farmer 

 market. Two or three weeks ago I saw two colts, dropped in May, sold 

 after lively bidding at a hundred dollars each in an ordinary, typical 

 crowd of Michigan farmers. The colts were ordinary stuff, which ought 

 to develop into good work horses on the farm, nothing more. At the 

 same sale was a Short-horn bull calf, dropped about the same time, grand- 

 son of a $6,000 Scotch bull, and from a registered cow. The calf went 

 slowly at twenty dollars. 



Until this discrepancy in values as they rest in the mind of the Ameri- 

 can farmer can be done away with and something like a reasonable ap- 

 preciation of the w^orth of well-bred cattle established, we shall never have 

 the proper quality of stuff on American farms. We need a campaign on 

 the value of well-bred bulls — a campaign that shall continue until the 

 price of a well-bred bull is at least as high as a common farm work horse. 



I have generally noticed that when a man begins to build expensive 

 barns with heavy basements, his profits in the cattle begin to run down, 

 and presently his herd begins to disappear. All these animals are outdoor 

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