PROFIT OF CATTLE. 395 



part of Kansas, is sheep. The farms are not commonly fenced 

 for sheep, and cattle do not like to graze where sheep graze 

 and bed. In the Fall of 1878, we bought one hundred and 

 sixty-five two-year old steers, at an average cost of twenty- 

 seven dollars and thirty cents per head. With this string of 

 cattle we put twenty-three head of our own raising. They 

 were the same age, and we think they cost us much less per 

 head, and were better cattle. 



PROFIT OF CATTLE. 



I ran these one hundred and eighty-eight cattle together 

 in stalk fields, bought at twenty -five to thirty cents per acre, 

 until March 10th, 1879, at about the cost of five dollars per 

 head, thus making the stock cost thirty-two dollars and thirty 

 cents per head March 10th, and they were in fine condition. I 

 then selected out sixty-eight of the best, put them on full feed 

 in a good timber lot, without any grass, and they stayed here 

 until June 22d. They each consumed about forty-five bushels 

 of corn, which was worth eighteen cents per bushel, or eight 

 dollars and ten cents. The cost of a man to feed them did not 

 exceed fifty cents per head, as he had about two hundred other 

 cattle to feed, increasing the cost to eight dollars and sixty 

 cents per head. This made these cattle cost forty dollars and 

 seventy cents per head at time of sale. I sold them, and they 

 weighed over fourteen hundred pounds on the average, 

 bringing the average price of sixty dollars per head. This 

 left nineteen dollars and ten cents profit per head. The 

 remaining one hundred and twenty head were roughed until 

 April 10th, then put on full feed on grass and corn, where the 

 pasture, feed lot and all accommodations were furnished, with 

 the corn, by paying twenty cents per bushel for the corn. They 

 were fed about four months, and cost ten dollars per head for corn 

 and feeding, and six dollars for roughing through the Winter. 

 This, added to the first cost, made each steer cost forty-three 

 dollars and thirty cents. When sold, they brought an average 

 of fifty-eight dollars per head, leaving fourteen dollars and 

 seventy cents clear. This profit, however, would not be so 



