32 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



!N^o wonder breeders are suffering from a surplus of unsold 

 stock, and no wonder that the herds of the country are so 

 largely headed by scrubs. No sales business on earth could 

 prosper with this lack of organization for selling purposes. 

 Of course a few individual breeders, by the employment of 

 modern business methods, do push sales and make money; 

 but their sales are for the most part to smaller breeders, and 

 not to the farmers, where, after all, the breeding stock is most 

 needed. 



Why do not the breeders in their organized capacity go 

 after this undeveloped market for sires, which, if developed, 

 would absorb and put to use at good prices every worthy 

 pedigreed* male in all the herds of the country ? Why do 

 they not develop this market, instead of selling back and 

 forth to each other at prices which the farmer from his stand- 

 point cannot understand, and which represent in many cases 

 not so much the earning power of the individuals, as the 

 prices which men of means are willing to pay for the satis- 

 faction of ownership ? With all that can be done by the most 

 able and progressive individuals, it does not take a modern 

 financier to understand that, if organized effort were devoted 

 to the selling of bulls, for example, as it is to boots and 

 oranges, both the breeder and the farmer would be better 

 off, and the cattle of the country would suddenly and sub- 

 stantially improve. 



The rule of the commercial world is that the seller seeks 

 the buyer, and agriculture is no exception. Many a man, 

 however, can raise, feed and condition good cattle, horses, 

 sheep and hogs, who cannot sell them except upon the open 

 market. Such a man should look to his associates to make 

 his sales. 



What the breeding business needs is not a few sales at 

 fabulous values, but rather a steady and reliable market at 

 compensating prices. To secure this, the selling side should 

 be put into the hands of professional salesmen who arc re- 

 sponsible to the association. The stock may be o\vned, as now, 

 by individuals, and consigned to the association for sale; or 

 in some instances the association may own the sires, and pay 



