132 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



perhaps more, interested in the production of good commercial cattle and 

 beef than in show steers. 



A little more than seven years ago I left this, my native state, and at 

 that time it would have been hard to have made me believe that there was 

 a better place for the production of good cattle and good beef than in 

 Iowa. However, I am now inclined to believe that not quite all of the 

 world's beef supply is produced in Iowa pastures or in Iowa feed lots, or 

 that beef can be produced any cheaper or any better in Iowa than it is 

 possible to do elsewhere. 



Kansas as a state is eminently fitted by nature for a livestock state. 

 The climate is mild, and it does not require the expensive barns and sheds 

 that are necessary in many sections of the country to keep stock comfort- 

 able. Her soil and the feeds that it produces are conducive to strong, 

 healthy, hearty and vigorous cattle. The varieties of grasses and grains 

 produced are fully as great as can be found in any state, and this, together 

 with a good climate, good transportation facilities, and two good livestock 

 markets on her borders, make the state an ideal place for the production 

 of good cattle. 



I had been accustomed all my life to the best of blue grass and clover 

 pastures, and it looked a little hard to see cattle grazing over what seemed 

 to be very scant and in many cases almost bare, rough, stony pastures. 

 But when these cattle came in in the fall, after having made a gain of from 

 300 to 400 pounds on grass alone, one soon realized that the grass is much 

 better than it at first appears to be. The cheapest beef that we are pro- 

 ducing today is made in this manner. It is not at all uncommon to have 

 steers make from 350 to 400 pounds of gain on a pasture of this prairie 

 grass, without grain at all, and this in a comparatively short grazing sea- 

 son, as this native grass does not make pasture early, nor is it the best 

 of late pasture. 



A good many of the feeders in the central and eastern portions of the 

 state are abandoning the practice of full feeding in winter altogether, and 

 are depending very largely on grass to finish their cattle. A few are feed- 

 ing corn while the cattle are on grass, but a majority of them are quite gen- 

 erally using cottonseed meal or cake in place of corn for pasture feeding, 

 with very satisfactory and profitable gains. 



For summer grazing, the high, rough or rolling pasture is considered 

 more desirable than a low, level one. It is seldom that there is not a 

 good, gentle breeze blowing over these high pastures, and the hotter the 

 day, the higher up the cattle are found, and even though they can not get 

 a full mouthful of grass at every nip, they seem perfectly contented, and 

 flies are almost unheard of on cattle on pasture of this kind — at least, 

 there are not enough of them to bother the cattle, for it is very seldom 

 that you will see a tail switching. 



In late August and early September, I have seen fatter cattle driven 

 from such pastures as these than I ever saw go off the best blue grass and 

 clover pasture in Iowa. 



With the increasing price of lands and of feeds, the production of 

 profitable beef to the grower is by no means • as easy as it was twenty 



