614 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 THE FUTURE OF SHORT-HORN. 



MARTIN FLYXX, DES MOINES, lA., BEFORE CENTRAL SHORT-HORN ASSOCIATION. 



About thirty-seven years ago, having just purchased my Walnut Hill 

 Farm, I observed the native cattle on the farm and those owned by my 

 neighbors and at once realized that an improvement must be made. I 

 began to investigate the merits of thoroughbred cattle. My preference 

 was the Short-horn breed. I soon purchased the foundation stock of the 

 Walnut Hill herd. I then believed, and during all these years have had 

 no occasion to waver in that belief, and, in fact, am today more thorough- 

 ly convinced that the Short-horn is the greatest improver of the cattle 

 known to man, and we. Short-horn breeders may justly feel proud of our 

 chosen breed when we go through the stock yards and see on the market 

 so many of the best fat cattle carrying Short-horn blood, and how small 

 is the per cent of the good fat cattle sold for beef that does not carry 

 the blood of the Short-horn. We must not, however, forget that our prin- 

 cipal mission is to breed a class of bulls that will improve the common 

 cattle and bring them to the point demanded by the butcher. We are 

 not breeding our thoroughbreds for the butcher's block but for the pro- 

 duction of bulls to improve the beef qualities of the common cattle. 

 Hence, we must not overlook that great essential now so urgently de- 

 manded of the stock raiser, viz., size, because the sire put on common 

 cattle must have size as well as smoothness. 



I believe in the matter of scale lies the great mission of the Short- 

 horns as a beef breed. We know that sires of other beef breeds will, 

 when used on the com.mon cattle, produce smoothness and quality, but 

 they will not sufficiently increase the size. The thoughtful range man 

 who has been using sires of the other breed is frequently heard to say, 

 "My cattle are too small; I must use a Short-horn cross to increase the 

 scale." 



Now, my fellow Short-horn breeders, we must stop and consider the 

 conditions that today confront us. Can we afford to sacrifice the scale 

 of the Short-horns in an effort to breed sires that will produce the small, 

 earlj'-maturing baby beef class? Other beef breeds are putting forth 

 their most strenuous efforts in this line, and, we must admit, with 

 average success; but it is not a fact that field is very small, for reasons 

 that do and must exist for many years to come? To successfully finish 

 Cor market beef at from twelve to twenty months old, the calf must be 

 kept growing constantly and never allowed to shrink or lose the calf fat. 

 The calf must be of a high grade of good quality and a strong beef type, 

 and to be kept growing it must be fed much more carefully than the older 

 steer, and a properly balanced ration must be fed, so that the bone, flesh, 

 and fat will be developed proportionately. Such beef cannot be finished 

 quickly by short feeds and only the very best feeds of the farm can be 

 used." 



