786 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



later sold the entire Spur head to W. J. Lewis. 

 Asked for a summary of his reasons for preferring 

 Hereford blood for range purposes Mr. Hastings 

 says: 



"The Hereford has been the redeemer of the 

 range on account of his hustling ability, capacity 

 for taking care of himself under adverse circum- 

 stances and general adaptability to large pasture 

 work." 



The largest investment for improvements on the 

 SMS property has been for water, over $100,000, 

 but the greatest expense item has been for the ex- 

 termination of prairie dogs, the sum of $50,000 hav- 

 ing been successfully expended to rid the big pas- 

 tures of "dogs." 



Calves for the Cornbelt.. Beginning about 1904 

 the Swensons began selling their youngsters to 

 cornbelt feeders, and many a great load of "white 

 faces" bearing their brand has graced the pens 

 of leading shows and markets. In 1912 they deliv- 

 ered 5,000 head to the cornbelt, and not a single 

 buyer was present to receive his cattle. "With the 

 exception of one man who wrote that he thought the 

 calves a little young," says Mr. Hastings, "we had 

 a clean sweep of voluntary letters expressing abso- 

 lute satisfaction with the cattle. In fact, our busi- 

 ness is up to a place now where we cannot half sup- 

 ply the demand for the cattle, and we grade them 

 just as one would grade sacks of granulated sugar, 

 that is, our standard has been established and we 

 are able to sell them by correspondence with uni- 

 versal satisfaction." 



