A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



the supply for forty years or more. I should like to 

 see The Breeder's Gazette put "Jim" Poole on this 

 job, to dig out data from the memories and records 

 of old-timers in the Chicago yards, still in the trade. 

 It must be remembered, however, that in the early 

 days of the Great Northern Railroad the late James 

 J. Hill spent a great deal of money putting out Aber- 

 deen-Angus bulls along that line, and quite a bit of 

 breeding was done in Montana. The Aberdeen- 

 Angus bulls were crossed on cows probably pretty 

 well graded. The comparison should probably be 

 made against Longhorns taken to the northwest in 

 the '8o's and cattle in recent years, with cattle in both 

 instances fat. 



The foregoing has been written more with a view 

 to "starting something" and bringing out informa- 

 tion from all sources than to claim any merit for 

 my own observations. The topic should be thor- 

 oughly discussed by rangemen and cornbelt cattle 

 feeders and breeders. 



It is quite a jump from weights to ticks, and yet 

 the extended work of the Federal Bureau of Animal 

 Industry must have had a great influence on weights 

 when the drain of tick vampires on the early cattle 

 is considered. I am sure that immunity from ticks 

 within a few weeks after trail droves started north 

 had much to do with their weights in Montana. I 

 have often heard old trail drivers speak of starting 

 with droves of thin cattle, taking them from south 



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