242 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



S. F. Lockridge. It is a very broad subject; it is as broad as the universe, be- 

 cause we have cattle scattered all over the world. I am not prepared to stand up 

 iiere and say that the Shorthorn cattle are the best beef producing cattle to the 

 given amount of food. In America we are not prepared to say much upon that 

 subject. Our Fat Stock Show at Chicago is a new institution, but is growing rap- 

 idly, and, I trust, in time will give us much information on this subject. In Eng- 

 land they know more on this subject than we do. The great Smithfield show and 

 some others liave been run for one hundred years. I can not agree altogether with 

 Mr. Thompson, that some kinds of cattle shown at Chicago are better than others. 

 We do not know how much it costs when you bring the animal into the ring. As 

 here, so at Chicago, the results of care and feeding the Shorthorn, Hereford and 

 Polled Angus stand out in the different breeds. The flesh on one of those animals 

 may have cost twice as much as the others. They can not get reliable facts in feed- 

 ing animals to thai point by the pound. They can tell how much they put on in 

 twelve months, but as to quality of feed, it has never been brought out very ac- 

 -curately. They have a system of feeding at Bow Park which is widely different from 

 the way we feed here. They feed turnips, mangel-worzel and clover hay. Here, 

 we feed Indian corn cut up in the shock, and some of us grind feed and make a 

 kind of mash, which is good feed. Mr. Cxillet, of Illinois, never houses an animal 

 until it goes to the shambles. He lets it run out in the open lields and have rough 

 fare until two years okl, he then puts it on pasture and gives it all the Indian corn 

 it can eat, feeding on this winter and summer. We don't know how much it cost*; 

 to put that meat on, but it don't cost as much as at Bow Park, because they were 

 housed. There they feed eight months in the year, while we only feed five. I 

 feed in the barn, turning out daring the day and keeping them up of nights. I 

 grind my corn feed, giving about a peck of meal a day. When I feed my steers shock 

 corn I aim to feed one-third of a bushel a day, which is about forty or fifty bushels 

 a year, then put them on grass and finish ; it makes fat cattle. It is easier to put 

 on fat in summei'than in the winter, as much of this feed necessarily has to go to 

 keep up heat in the winter. Where you take the Shorthorn as general purpose 

 -cattle, it is the best in the world. The Shorthorns are a good beef-producing ani- 

 mal, and possess excellent milking qualities. Fifty or one hundred years ago they 

 were the best milkei-s. If they are not so now, it is because we have not taken care 

 -of them. They have become acclimated, and breed in almost all quarters of the 

 world — in France, Germany, Austrtilia and South America. Taking all these 

 -coiLsiderations together, the Shorthorns are the best cattle in the world. I am not 

 prepared to say which will put on the most flesh to the given amount of food. 

 Some think they are good for the plains, but I am inclined to think that they are 

 not as well adapted to that part of the country as some other breeds. "^ 



J. A. Thompson. I would state that I have one thoroughbred steer. Shorthorn, two 

 years old, castrated because he was of bad color. The first year I let him run with the 

 stock cattle. The second year I fed him, and two years old past he weighed 1,850 

 pounds. He is now three years old, and weighs something over a ton. He had 

 rough feed the first year, but the second year little extra attention was givcn him. 

 I usually feed mill and starch feed. This steer had starch feed and bran. I had a 

 three-year-old that I fed two years and was slaughtered here by Mr. Kingan. It 



