354 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



I still have thirty-eight head of these steers in the yard, being the top of 

 the bunch. As these thirty-eight were selected in regard to quality rather 

 than weight I am judging that this bunch will weigh one thousand two hun- 

 dred and seventy-five pounds each and that they would have sold on the 

 Chicago market on the day the others were there for $5.35. I expect to 

 feed these two loads of cattle for thirty days longer. 



As to the breeding I would say that they were Shorthorn, Angus and 

 Hereford grades, the Shorthorns largely predominating. A part of them 

 were carrying their horns when bought, and I have long ago quit sawing 

 the horns off cattle older than yearlings. 



It will be noticed that these cattle made an average gain of just 

 about six hundred pounds in twelve and one-half months from the feed- 

 yards to Chicago; that they were on pasture without grain two hundred and 

 ten days of that time, were given a light grain ration on pasture thirty days 

 and were on full feed one hundred and forty days. During the full-feed 

 period they consumed fifty-six bushels of corn per steer. During the thirty 

 days preparatory feed they consumed fifteen acres of good corn or about 

 eight bushels each, or a total of sixty-four bushels, which, at forty-nine 

 cents, the average price, this corn has cost me in the self-feeders, would be 

 $31.36; pasturing for eight months at seventy-five cents per month would be 

 $6; seven hundred and eight pounds at four cents, May 8, 1903, would figure 

 $28.32, making the cost $65.68. They netted per head in Chicago, May 23, 

 1904, $63.25, causing a loss per head of $2.43. 



There were about eighty hogs following these cattle which were bought at 

 from $5 to $5.10, and a car of them sold May 21st at $4.35 at home. These 

 hogs weighed about one hundred and sixty pounds when they went into the 

 feed-yard, and the carload averaged two hundred and seventy pounds when 

 sold. With the decline in the market I am figuring that the hogs also lost 

 money, but that it would be only fair to allow the hog feed to pay for the 

 hay and labor during the full-feed period, as the cattle were not to blame for 

 the decline in the hog market, and I believe this will usually be a fair basis 

 from wl^ich to figure. While this was a fairly well-bred bunch of cattle it is 

 only by the most careful selection that as good a bunch can be gotten 

 together in this locality. 



Many of our farmers insist on using scrub bulls. You ask me to suggest 

 a remedy for this. I have none. I have never been able to understand the 

 cause of this trouble which costs the farmers so many thousands of dollars 

 every year. I have thought that if cattle should get so cheap that it would 

 pay to raise only the best, that maybe the farmer would see the point and 

 either go out of the business or breed something good. It may be that a law 

 could be framed whereby there would be a tax or penalty for keeping a scrub 

 bull. Perhaps this would have the desired effect and cause the farmer to see 

 the point. I know that the cheaper grades of cattle have sold and are now 

 selling relatively higher than the better class, but it is only because they 

 have been fed this high-priced corn in small numbers, and even at the ruin- 

 ously low prices at which they could have been bought during the past 

 season feeders were afraid to make the venture. 



I consider this to have been an exceptional year. I have always had a 

 doctrine that good cattle bought right and fed right always made money, 

 but I know of no one who has made any money this season. I am looking 



