102 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



good one and make one dollar. When I am buying cattle to put in 

 the feed lot, while I am looking for the good one, I will buy 

 most anj^hing I come to, provided the seller will accept my price 

 for it. You must remember, when you are after something every- 

 bod.Y likes — if a man has a bunch of cattle that justs suits you, 

 you must remember that the seller has a great deal to do in naming 

 the price, and he can generally find a buyer at his price if he has 

 got the article which is in demand. If, on the other hand the 

 seller has some cattle nobody wants ; they are not what you want ; 

 they are not what your neighbor wants, the buyer has a great deal 

 to do in naming the price, and he can often name that price at a 

 figure that will realize him a profit in the feeding of these cattle. 

 Now, do not understand me as advocating the breeding of common 

 and mean cattle; it cannot profitably be done. 



There are three interests that have a right to share a profit 

 in this cattle business, in the feeding of cattle. The breeder, and 

 that is the man who keeps the cow, and if she doesn't earn any- 

 thing but the calf, the breeder of this calf and the grower of 

 this calf; and the man that finishes the steer, puts the finishing 

 period on him. We all agree that each interest should share in 

 this profit, if there is one. But conditions have been such, if 

 the breeder and grower realizes what he considers a fair profit 

 for him, the price is so high to the feeder that it is very hard for 

 him to figure a profit in maturing this steer. If on the other 

 hand, the feeder buys the steer he can realize on, the breeder and 

 producer and grower of this steer has produced it at a loss. So it 

 is very often the case that the feeder can buy a steer of the breed- 

 er and grower at a price he has sustained a loss and yet may re- 

 alize him a profit; but if each one shares in this profit, the 

 profit will be very small to each one of us. 



Of course, as to the question of feeding cattle to an advan- 

 tage, we must remember, the cost of beef production increases 

 Avith the age of the animal and the period it has been on feed. 

 The longer the steer has remained in the feed lot, the next hundred 

 pounds cost more than the hundred pounds put on previously, and 

 so on. We should remember this, that if we are buying calves 

 and yearlings to grow on the farm, we should get just as much 

 quality and breeding as possible ; we cannot get too much. If we 

 must buy common and mean cattle, let the other fellow grow them 

 and turn them on short feed. We must remember and we all know 

 there are a great many good cattle feeders in nearly every commu- 

 nity that have never fed a prime bullock in their life. There are 



