100 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



BUYING, FEEDING AND SELLING THE STEER FOR 



PROFIT. 



JOHN G. EMBODEN, DECATUR, ILL. 



Mr. President, and Merabers of the Corn Belt Meat Producers' 

 Association^ and Iowa Farmers' Institute: 



It affords me pleasure to meet a body of men who have at heart 

 the agricultural and live stock interests of this great state; inter- 

 ests that cannot profitably be separated. 



I don't know but this is the first time I have ever been intro- 

 duced to an audience as a professor. I am not a professor; I am 

 just an every-day farmer and cattle feeder. I went to the southern 

 part of Illinois a few years ago to address an audience on cattle 

 feeding. I was there introduced to a gentleman, who said: "I am 

 very glad to meet you; I have heard something of you; you are a 

 damn common looking fellow; I rather like the looks of you; you 

 look like you had some sense." I asked him what he expected to 

 see. He said he didn 't know but some dude fellow was coming down 

 there to talk to us old fellows about cattle feeding. I said to 

 him: "My brother, the dudes are about all out of the cattle feed- 

 ing business, and if the present condition remains longer, there 

 are some of us not dudes, who will be out of it." 



Your secretary, wrote and asked me to make this subject as 

 broad as I could. So I wrote and told him we would consider, 

 * * Buying, Feeding and Selling the Steer at a Profit. ' ' 



I think you will all see that this subject is broad enough 

 to satisfy any one who has any desire to get in or stay in. If I 

 were to tell you that in the past 25 years I have handled and fed 

 cattle, I never bought a load of cattle too high; never fed cattle 

 but what made a satisfactory gain ; never sold a load of cattle on 

 the market at a low figure, you would think 



A Voice: That you was a liar. 



Mr. Emboden: Every old feeder here would think that I was 

 either a big liar, or never fed cattle. 



What is the truth about it? I have bought cattle too high. I 

 have fed them when they didn't make a satisfactory gain, and I 



