396 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and the acquaintances made at the ring side and during fair week will 

 result in a reputation and as a consequence in sales, so that it pays to go 

 into the show business. It is not necessary to win the first prizes to 

 make it pay. If a breeder can put forward worthy cattle in prime condi- 

 tion he will make friends and admirers for his exhibit, though he may 

 not win out on top. The awarding judges, acting in all honesty, may pre- 

 fer a rival herd of a different type — perhaps a larger type — perhaps not 

 deeper fleshed but rounded out till individuality is lost in fat. Under- 

 stand show cattle must always be in high show condition, but if you do 

 not believe in the stuffing process and resulting gross obesity you may 

 safely show your independence by bringing your cattle into the show 

 yard in that attractive state known as highly finished, showing their qua! 

 ity to their best advantage, plump, sappy, elastic, wearing blooming coats. 

 With such a herd you may still fail of the blue ribbons, but in the lobby r 

 which by the way is the appellate court in cattle contests, you will catch 

 the eyes of some discriminative men who are seeking exactly the thing 

 you are showing — prospective buyers, too — which the judges are not. 

 Thus you will win renown followed by sales and find that it pays to go 

 into the show business. When the conditions enumerated are absent a 

 man had better stay at home with his cattle. 



Edwin Reynolds & Son: Directly the benefit is not so great as mignt 

 be expected, although an exhibitor can make expenses and considerable 

 more to compensate for feed and labor, but indirectly benefit comes in 

 from the advertisement received in the show yard, and this is worth 

 many times the cost and trouble. 



C. G. Comstock & Son: We think this question is like a good many 

 others in that it cannot be answered for every one in the same way. We 

 believe that the first essential factor is the breeder himself. If the con- 

 ditions are such that he can give the time to it, if he is competent and 

 sufficiently interested, we would say decidedly that it pays to show. In 

 that case show by all means, but he should be a good judge of cattle and 

 should understand the proper handling of them. If he has not all of this 

 knowledge he should be capable of acquiring it by practice and observa- 

 tion. There are exhibitors who never will be able to do this. Our answer 

 to the beginner would be what we believe he would receive from a proles- 

 sional or a business man if he should write and ask him for his advice 

 as to becoming a lawyer, doctor or a merchant, as the case might be. He 

 would doubtless reply, "It depends upon yourself." We think it pays the 

 right man if there are no personal reasons to prevent his giving the 

 proper time to it. 



Some of the breeders' associations are putting up sufficient money as 

 premiums at the state fairs and association shows to pay him pretty well 

 even if he is only fairly successful. The advertising he gets is something 

 that cannot be calculated in dollars and cents, but it is valuable and of 

 course increases in value with his success. Besides these direct results 



