58 SUCCESSFUL FARMING 



cattle that should go into the feed lot. Where grain-fed steers are to be 

 marketed from the middle of July to the first of December, a better grade 

 of cattle and a higher finish are demanded than at any other season of 

 the year. In the late summer and early fall the markets are usually well 

 supplied with beef that has been produced cheaply on grass with which 

 the half -fat grain-fed cattle cannot compete profitably. After the Christ- 

 mas holidays all the cattle come from dry lots and have been fattened 

 on expensive feedstuffs so that the plain, rough cattle can be marketed 

 to better advantage than during the grazing season, because the com- 

 petition of grass-fed cattle is eliminated. 



The reasons for feeding beef cattle are that they reduce farm crops 

 into a more concentrated market product and they are a means of per- 

 manently maintaining the soil fertility. All feeding operations should 

 be conducted with these facts in mind. The selection of feeding cattle 

 which will serve the purpose and at the same time Droduce an immediate 

 profit is the mark of the successful cattle feeder. 



THE DEFICIENCY IN THE MEAT SUPPLY 



Statistics need not be presented to substantiate the assertion that 

 there is a decided deficiency in the supply of meat. The shortage is the 

 result of a long-continued series of years during which the final value of 

 the finished animal was less than the market value of the crops necessary 

 for its production. During the early development of the country there 

 were a considerable number of meat animals bred and fed in the Atlantic 

 states. When the territory west of the Alleghenies and east of the 

 Mississippi River was settled., the breeding industry moved to this section 

 because cattle were the only means of marketing the grass, grain and 

 forage. When transportation facilities were provided for the shipment 

 of grain and other farm products, the breeding industry moved on to 

 Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, where more favorable conditions 

 existed. Here it dominated the agricultural practice until the free range 

 in the West was made available through the suppression of lawlessness. 

 The trend of the cattle-breeding industry has been westward toward the 

 less expensive grazing lands, until there is now no cheap land available. 

 With the decline of breeding operations, finishing or fattening for market 

 became a well-established practice in those sections where the breeding 

 of livestock was unprofitable. The result of this condition is that the 

 demand for animals suitable for the feed lot has finally become so great 

 that the West is no longer able to furnish an adequate supply of feeders, 

 with subsequent high prices. 



In recent years the papers and magazines have kept up an almost 

 continual agitation against the high price of meat. The high price has 

 been attributed to the avarice of the farmer, the packer, the stockyards 

 or the retail dealer, rather than to the laws of supply and demand. It has 

 discouraged many from entering into a legitimate business venture for 



