308 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



cows. Whichever way we look at this question if we do so thoroughly 

 and with a desire to get at the truth, we must come to the inevitable 

 conclusion that the breeding and sale of pure-bred bulls is really the 

 backbone of the pure-bred cattle-breeding industry. 



Pure-bred cattle are sold not as producers of market-cattle, but as the 

 foundation of breeding herds of pure-bred cattle, that shall in turn pro- 

 duce pure-bred bulls and cows. Breeders of pure-bred cattle everywhere 

 seem to have lost sight of the fact that every time a registered female is 

 sold, competition is invited; but some one may say, why not invite and 

 even encourage competition? I can only answer this by saying that in my 

 judgment it is not necessary to invite, much less encourage, competition 

 in this line. A business that is naturally as attractive as the breeding 

 of pure-bred beef-cattle, that promises fair interest on the money in- 

 vested, does not need any "drumming up." Besides, the kind of competi- 

 tion that is secured by inexperienced men embarking in the business 

 under the influence of a stimulus of high prices is not the kind of compe- 

 tition that will tend to furnish a normal and staple market for pure-bred 

 beef cattle. Our judgment would be to eliminate as far as possible this 

 element of competition by discouraging rather than encouraging the in- 

 discriminate founding of herds by men who you have great reason for 

 believing will fail in the undertaking. 



True, they furnish a present market for a few females, but where 

 failure is inevitable, they are bound to do the business, and the breed you 

 represent, immeasurable harm. Undoubtedly, I will be considered as 

 preaching a queer doctrine and one that will not work, by suggesting tnat 

 breeders discourage the sale of cattle for which they have demand. 



We have but to look back over the history of this industry in the past 

 to satisfy ourselves that a failure of a majority of breeders to recognize this 

 principle of forcing a large number of females on the market when there 

 is a demand for them by experienced breeders, is not wholly but partly 

 responsible for periodical slumps in the pure-bred cattle trade. We con- 

 fidently believe that if a united effort were directed along this line by 

 breeders of pure-bred cattle the country over, we should have continr- 

 ous, staple and profitable market for all of our good cattle, a condition 

 which would make steady improvement possible. As it is, we nicely 

 prepared for breeding some good cattle when suddenly we find we cannot 

 afford to do so, owing to a slump in prices. Again, the breeder of pure- 

 bred cattle may well ask, what are we to do with the females we breed if 

 we are not to sell them? We concede that this is the most difficult ques- 

 tion you could propound; however, it is not unanswerable. Many of the 

 breeders have no doubt observed the opinion expressed by Col. Woods 

 in his letter to the Breeders Gazette, and later by many breeders as to 

 the advisability of having one-third of our bull calves castrated. We are 

 not prepared to say that this is the right thing to do, as we do not be- 

 lieve this proposition strikes at the root of the whole matter. 



That we have a large number of pure-bred beef-bulls going onto the 

 market that ought not to, we admit, and still, looking at it from the 



