ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 135 



and some of them perhaps ten or twelve. A few of them had been work 

 oxen and were wearing shoes. The whole drove would not have aver- 

 aged more than 750 or 775 pounds. They perhaps cost from $5 to $7 

 per head in Mexico, and the man who bought them said he did it because 

 he was unable to find anything else that could be bought at a reason- 

 able price. How he expects to make money out of this bunch, I do not 

 know. It seems to me that every man who is interested in the pro 

 duction of good beef should, as soon as possible, get hold of a good 

 bunch of the very best bred beef cows it is possible for him to find, and 

 get just as many as his farm will carry; raise his own feeders, and 

 feed them out as yearlings, rather than to handle the class of cattle that 

 it takes three or four years to mature. This class of cattle can cer- 

 tainly be handled with greater profits, and, at the same time furnish our 

 markets with a much more desirable class of beef. As soon as it is 

 possible to get the producers to producing a better class of cattle and the 

 feeders to giving more careful attention to the feeds they use and the 

 manner in which they feed, we will hear less complaint about it not 

 being profitable to feed cattle. 



Corn, of course, throughout the corn belt states, must always be 

 largely used in our feeding operations, but there are many other feeds 

 that should receive some attention, and many combinations of feed will 

 be made that will give more profitable returns than corn alone. I do not 

 know how generally in this state you are using cottonseed meal or cake. 

 Possibly freight rates here are somewhat against its use, but we find it 

 one of the most economical feeds that we can use for fattening cattle 

 at present prices. Some years ago there was a decided prejudice against 

 cottonseed meal, and many reported disastrous results, and in some 

 cases loss from using it, and especially loss from hogs that were follow- 

 ing cattle fed on cottonseed. However, there has been very little com- 

 plaint of this kind in the last few years, and many of our best feeders 

 are using it very extensively, both for summer and winter feeding, and 

 feeding it for a much longer period than was a few years ago considered 

 possible to do. We find that from feeding from three to five pounds 

 of cottonseed meal daily with corn, we can make larger and more eco- 

 nomical gains than by feeding corn alone. A few years ago bran was 

 used by many successful feeders, but that was in a time when it was 

 milled with the old stone burrs. With the improved types of machinery 

 now used in most flouring mills, there is but very little fattening ma- 

 terial left in bran. I am very doubtful whether or not it can be eco- 

 nomically used for general cattle feeding. It undoubtedly has its place in 

 the breeding herd, and will probably be found very useful in the feeding 

 of a grand champion steer. 



Oats, also, probably has its place in the breeding herd and also in 

 the show herd, but it is doubtful whether or not it can be used to the 

 best advantage in the feed lot. With us it is not nearly so generally 

 raised as in this state, and we have very largely made alfalfa take 

 it place. Oil meal and many other by-products can oftentimes be used to 

 good advantage, and very profitably used, and in making up a grain 



