FIRST FAT STOCK SHOWS 371 



period, the prizelist for the first fat stock show in- 

 cluded classes for "steers four years old and over." 

 The dominant blood employed by the better class of 

 farmers and ranchmen of the " seventies " was the 

 Shorthorn not the short-legged, blocky, early-ma- 

 turing sort so familiar to fair-goers of the present 

 day, but the high-headed, up-standing, broad-hooked, 

 long-quartered kind that was not commonly consid- 

 ered marketable as prime beef until the steers had 

 attained the age of four or five years. 



Signs were not wanting, however, as early as 

 1878, of impending changes in the best feedlot prac- 

 tice. Influences were at work tending to convince 

 the younger generation, at least, that it was poor 

 economy to carry a bullock to such weights and ages 

 as was customary at that date. Pioneer mid-west 

 scientists, like the late Prof. George E. Morrow of 

 the University of Illinois, were persistently calling 

 the attention of farmers to the great expense at 

 which added pounds were gained as the steer ad- 

 vanced in age. Enterprising breeders and feeders 

 were already testing the forcing process on younger 

 cattle, and were soon to furnish a fine demonstration 

 of the fact that prevailing methods were wasteful in 

 the extreme, and should be abandoned. While the 

 "big ones" still had the call when the iioors opened 

 upon the first show, the more progressive elements 

 in the cattle trade rejoiced that, at last, an oppor- 

 tunity would be given for competitive tests which 

 they believed would prove a valuable object lesson 

 to all concerned. 



