CATTLE HERDING. 893 



cows, and just as sure as he stays, he wins provided that he 

 displays the same energy, care, and forethought that would be 

 required to successfully conduct any of the ordinary means of 

 gaining a livelihood. With a dozen good cows and a good but- 

 ter-maker, a support for a family can be gained from the butter, 

 while the cows, with proper care, will grow into a herd, worth 

 a respectable fortune, in ten years. 



The rule should be to never part with a good heifer-calf as 

 long as she breeds, or with a steer until three years old. Any 

 man who can command money enough to start with fifty cows, 

 may, by the time he has the business learned, be so well fixed 

 that he can sell one hundred beeves annually, and this number 

 will rapidly increase. I believe it best for those who have no 

 practical knowledge of the business, to start with a few head of 

 good cattle, and with every thing in good shape, for in such a 

 case I can not see how a live man can fail. When I say good, 

 do n't understand me to mean thorough-breds, for a good, healthy, 

 native cow will be more hardy, and will bring forth and raise a 

 calf with less care and risk, and will adapt herself to all the 

 changes of the climate, live on rougher feed, and do better than 

 a full-blood, while her half-breed calf will sell, as a beef, for 

 just as much (coming off the grass) as your thorough-bred. 



The stockman in Central and Western Kansas, Nebraska, or 

 anywhere on the plains, must always market his beef directly 

 from the grass. He may help a little by a rack full of millet- 

 hay that his beeves may get at; but as a rule, every bit of mil- 

 let or Hungarian should be stored safely for winter feeding, and 

 all the corn that you can raise should be kept to meet any ex- 

 igency that may arise say, such a winter as I have described, 

 or a loss of all or a part of your hay or range by fire. Where 

 you prepare for winter with hay, millet, corn, sheds, etc., you 

 require only about half the range that you would to winter with- 

 out these accessories. Usually you may begin cutting grass in 

 July, and if you wish, cut until the snow flies. 



Markets. The long lines of railroads all through the great 

 West, have brought the buyer to the feed-grounds of our cattle- 

 men, so that to-day every man may sell at home if he chooses, 



