TWELFTH ANNUAL. YEAR BOOK— PART IV 149 



because we have the raw material from whence the finished product will be 

 made. We have feed in abundance that is good for little except to convert 

 into beef, mutton or milk. Enormous quantities of feed goes to waste in 

 Iowa every year, that will some day be turned to good account in produc- 

 ing beef. The problem of properly utilizing this cheap feed will have more 

 to do with reducing the cost of producing beef than any other one thing. 



Iowa has two main sources of feeding stock, first, to keep cows and 

 raise calves, and second, to import from the range. Keen observers of live 

 stock conditions are of the opinion that we must ultimately rely for the 

 most part on home-grown stock for our feeders. For the past few years 

 feeding steers have sold at almost prohibitive prices. Competition is ex- 

 tremely keen. The novice in feed lot operations has little business buy- 

 ing feeding cattle in the open market. Only the skillful buyer and seller 

 has been able to make it profitable. 



I think it is quite generally agreed that we must look more and more 

 to the Iowa cow for our source of feeders. Such being the case, It is 

 well to consider what type of animal this Iowa cow will be, and what 

 sort of calves will she produce? Will she be special purpose, dual pur- 

 pose, or no purpose? And here again will arise that old-time question 

 of whether or not a man can keep the cow for the calf she will produce. 

 Right along this line I wish- to call your attention to statistics which I 

 have gathered from 620 farms. I have also discussed this question with 

 thousands of our best farmers in connection with our local short courses 

 and their verbal replies have entirely corroborated the following figures: 



Average number of cows bred per farm 13i/i 



Average number of calves raised per farm lOVi: 



Average number of calves lost per farm 1*4 



Per cent of cows actually raising calves 77 



You will note that the average farmer keeps four cows for every three 

 calves that he raises. Will the average Iowa farmer be obliged to milk 

 his cows in order to make a profit? 



Yes 66 per cent 



Not if cows are pure bred 1-1 per cent 



No 9 per cent 



No reply 11 per cent 



It is evident that the Iowa farmer does not believe that he can keep 

 the cow for the increase of the calf alone. As our land gi-ows higher in 

 price this belief will grow stronger rather than weaker. 



The investigations which I have made along the above lines lead me to 

 the following conclusions concerning the future source of feeding steers 

 in Iowa: There will be the fai'mer on the small farm, who has plenty or 

 labor, and who, wishing to make his land produce as much as possible, will 

 keep special purpose dairy cows. Then there will be the farmers on large 

 farms who have many acres of land to look after who will keep special 

 purpose beef cows. We may call dairying intensive farming and beef pro- 

 duction extensive farming. Of course these two extremes will not be gov- 

 erned entirely by the size of the farm, and we will find dairymen on large 



