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THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



years of age, they average about a thousand pounds live weight, but when fed on corn for 

 some months they will reach an average of 1,200 pounds, with perhaps from 600 to 700 

 pounds of marketable beef, as weighed from the butcher s block. These cattle, of which the 

 cut is a good illustration, are of almost every color ever represented in a bovine animal; they 

 are tall, lank, and bony, with coarse heads and exceedingly long horns, flat-sided, swayed in 

 the back, with high flanks, narrow hips and quarters, and long and coarse legs. As beef 

 animals, they have a large amount of offal in proportion to their flesh. The cows give only 

 sufficient milk for the nourishment of their offspring, and are nearly as large as the oxen. 



GROUP Off TEXAS CATTLB. 



These cattle have aided much in supplying the beef markets of the country, but for a few years 

 past the typical Texan steer has become less common in the Western stock yards, having been 

 improved to a considerable extent by the importations of pure-bred bulls of the best beef 

 breeds, such as the Short-horns and Herefords. The change brought about by this means 

 is more and more apparent in the improved form, weight, fattening qualities, and early 

 maturity of these half-wild animals that are now furnished for the beef markets. 



By comparing the cut of Texan cattle, inserted above, with those of the fine pure 

 bred animals of the present time, we have a good illustration of what has been accomplished 

 by the intelligent breeder, as well as a striking contrast between a poor and unprofitable 

 animal and a valuable one, the breeding and keeping of which is a source of pleasure as well 

 as profit to his owner. 



Acclimation of Thoroughbred Cattle in Texas. The introduction of thorough 

 bred cattle into Texas has been attended with a serious barrier in the form of the disease 

 known by the various names of Texas, Spanish, gastric or acclimating fever. This is a 

 malignant, contagious disease, originating in the lowlands of Texas and Mexico, and is said 

 to resemble, in its effects on the system, the rinderpest of Asiatic Russia. It is, however, 

 less destructive and contagious than the latter, since it will not be communicated to cattle 



