FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 373 



be allowed to govern the output of all products of the farm, in order that 

 under normal condition, the market values should be on an even and steady- 

 basis, that the originator of the product can form a reasonable estimate of 

 the profits of the business before beginning operation. I do not mean by this 

 that all chances of loss should be eliminated. We all know that every 

 business venture at some period will present a risk. 



The one item above all others in the feeding business that affects the pro- 

 ductive cost is the feed bill, the value of grains and grasses that are con- 

 sumed (animal husbandry is only a method of condensing bulk into smaller 

 packages) . Consequently the values of lands as well as price of grain 

 consumed must be considered as factors in the problem. There are two 

 distinct methods of producing beef: One is the production of the finished 

 animal by taking the calf, and continually using the forcing process until 

 sold; the second, and the one mostly followed, is to grow the cattle for a cer- 

 tain period, usually two years, on grass and coarse feeds on the farm. After 

 which they are placed on a grain ration for a length of time and made ready 

 for the market. The first item then in the feeding problem is the cost of 

 the steer at this period; second, the price of corn and other feeds used; third, 

 what the steer sells for in the market. At this point the producer steps out 

 of the problem to count his profit or loss as the case may be. 



As great changes have been made in the industrial world, there have 

 been equally as great changes made in the consumption department. A 

 few years ago corn was the only fattening feed used here in the West. Now 

 the feed yards and farms must handle all manner of by-products. Corn has 

 become an article of necessity in the old world. The feeder of today must 

 be able to compete with the export and manufacturing demand in the price 

 of corn. A few years ago a feeder could buy his corn for fifteen to twenty- 

 five cents per bushel. In recent years he has paid from thirty to sixty cents , 

 or double the former price. When you know that a twelve hundred-pound 

 steer will consume almost one-half a bushel of corn a day, or its equivalent, 

 and that it takes from one hundred and forty to two hundred days and in 

 some instances longer to place him on the market, you will realize that it 

 costs something to make a fat animal. 



The feeding season of 1902 and 1903 was a very unsatisfactory one from 

 a financial standpoint. You can all recall the condition of the market at 

 the close of 1902 and the season of 1903. Men of courage and skill put time, 

 money and care upon the altar of good faith only to be sacrificed. Can you 

 blame a man for thinking he is held up when he gets back only enough 

 money to pay his corn bill, and has to lose the cost price of his steers and 

 interest on his money. Nothing for his risk or loss by accident and death 

 ais well as his labor. And at the same time see this beef selling to the con- 

 sumer at practically the same price as when he was receiving enough for his 

 cattle to make him a good profit. The only wonder is that any one has the 

 nerve to go against the proposition of feeding cattle. However, if we con- 

 sider the condition of the market at the beginning of this period, you will 

 say that it was only natural under the law of supply and demand that this 

 crisis in the cattle feeding business should come. For instance, the year 1901 

 I find was a very profitable one in cattle feeding. I fed three loads myself 

 which cost me as stockers, four cents per pound in the fall of 1900 and sold in 

 Chicago at $6.40 at the close of 1901. In the fall of 1901, which was the dry 



