612 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



BEEF PRODUCTION AND DEMAND. 



CHARLES ESCIIER, SR., CARROLL COUNTY, IOWA, IN BREEDERS GAZETTE. 



On my return from another International I could not help wondering^ 

 over the improvements which are made year after year, especially the 

 great amphiheatre which to my notion is an ideal for its purpose and in 

 its accommodations. The show certainly ought to be of great educational 

 value to the visitor. As long as I am able to be around I shall take an 

 interest in the production of beef, to which I gave most of my time and 

 attention again this year, although not showing anything myself. I 

 learned again this year that a yearling bullock can not be brought to a 

 finish of perfection as well as a two-year-old, and as the feeding of cattle 

 is the final end it should behoove every feeder to do his very best. But 

 whether we will be able to bring them much better than wh'at has been 

 done in the last three or four years is a question. I know I did all a 

 man could possibly do last year with the yearling I showed when I put 

 over 800 pounds on in twelve months time. Surely every fair-minded 

 person had to acknowledge this year again that the different beef breeds 

 were all of a prime character, but here is the question; did it pay the men 

 who worked and toiled for a whole year with a carload of steers, which 

 were the plums, perhaps, out of a drove at least of 100 head? While 

 some perhaps do not pay the strictest attention to them, I know only too 

 well that others spend labor enough on theirs so it would have kept a 

 man busy for a year at least. 



And what was the reward? There is no business of any kind carried 

 en where the men have so little to say as the stockraiser in these days. 

 If the money invested was to be considered, millions on top of millions 

 have been lost in the last three years in cattle feeding. For one thing,, 

 feed has been too high, and where the feeder lost the man who sold his. 

 corn at 40 cents did all right; but to say he had the gain, or made what 

 the feeder lost, is not so, because where land is from $75 to $100 and even 

 more, besides labor is high, who can raise corn for much less? 



A few v/eeks ago I saw an article wherein the feeder was told how 

 important it is to know what not to do. And then it gave a way to 

 avoid the evils of so many losses? in cattle feeding — namely, the man must 

 know what to buy for summer feeding, as also for winter feeding; the 

 light cattle for spring and summer months and the heavy for fall and 

 winter months. To which question I gave considerable thought. 



Now the matter of the fact is this: If the farmer or feeder always 

 knew what not to do, Chicago would not be burdened with 35,000 to 40, 

 000 cattle a day, as on one morning two weeks ago, which was just the 

 time when heavy cattle, such as Christmas beeves, were wanted. The 

 "Drovers' Journal" had this to say: 'The heavy cattle were neglected, and 

 a decided drug on the market.' " 



Now how is a fellow to know what not to do? My experience in 

 late years is this: I seldom go to market and have what is wanted, na 



