THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 203 



on and you will find but few herds, even among the small land owners of 

 Iowa, where there is not a marked improvement in the quality of their 

 cattle. The breeding of pure bred cattle has assumed an intensely prac- 

 tical basis. There can be no hap-hazard work for the successful cattle 

 breeder of the future. His success depends upon intelligent action, adapt- 

 ability for the business, a constant application to fortify against all weak 

 points, economy in management, intelligent and economical feeding, a 

 scientific knowledge of mating, and from first to last a conservative finan- 

 cial policy. Too many of our young breeders take their cue from breed- 

 ers well advertised and strong financially, and are led into the error of 

 buying cattle beyond their means, and from the start are handicapped by 

 debt. I consider that the breeder of pure bred cattle is under moral obli- 

 gations to give honest advice and most hearty support to every customer 

 that buys his cattle. For every man that engages in the business and 

 makes a failure has a widespread depressing influence on the trade. 



Note the difference. A man or a dozen men may make a complete 

 failure in handling the promiscuous scrubs of the country and their fail- 

 ure is accepted by the public as a matter of common occurrence, and no 

 criticism is made, and the business moves along just the same. But let 

 a breeder of pure bred cattle make an assignment and the fact creates an 

 illusive argument used without limit against the business. It is true, a 

 breeder has many unjust and unreasonable things to contend with in his 

 trade. But after all they only prod a breeder up to more careful methods 

 in his business and his complete success in business depends largely upon 

 broad-minded and liberal treatment of customers. 



"While the present improvement in the quality of the cattle bred and 

 handled by the average farmer of Iowa is encouraging, it has not kept 

 pace with the wonderful transformation on the range. The ranchmen 

 who wrestled with his conscience several years ago to nerve himself up 

 to buying even grade bulls is now buying thoroughbreds and will not use 

 a grade, and the dividing of ranges and creating a larger number of cat- 

 tlemen will necessitate the breeders establishing shipping points in the 

 ranch country where the average cattle man can buy one or more bulls 

 at a time, as these men will not, neither can they afford the expense of 

 single shipment. 



Money consideration after all is the basis of all cattle breeding, and 

 while there is a profound inspiration in the breeding of pure bred cattle 

 developing the highest type of agricultural life, yet we naturally drift 

 back to the "profit and loss" page of the ledger, and the average breeder 

 has to reckon from this point no matter what his ambition may crave. 



With the satisfactory results of our experimental stations at our com- 

 miand there are many questions simplified, as but few breeders can afford 

 independent experimental tests of various feeds and proccesses. 



I am infidel to the fad of importing. You may ask what would we 

 have done without the imported blood. I acknowledge its past virtue 

 in the line of improvement, but in my judgment we do not need the im- 

 ported blood today to improve our cattle any more than we need the 

 imported blood to improve our people. 



