13 



course, more largely sold off the farms of the corn-belt states than 

 those of other sections of the country, but probably not far from 

 one-half, of the crop of Illinois is fed on the farm. 1 A temporary 

 curtailment of one branch or another of the live-stock industry, 

 especially cattle and hog feeding, is so promptly reflected in a 

 reduced corn market that stock feeding is quickly resumed to a 

 greater or less extent, tho with increasing reluctance and mis- 

 givings. This applies especially to fattening cattle, as this branch 

 of live-stock production offers the most immediate and ready 

 means of disposing of large quantities of corn, and at the same 

 time utilizes much otherwise wasted roughage, such as stalk 

 fields, corn stover, and straw. 



That beef production in the corn belt has become largely a 

 steer-fattening enterprise apart from breeding is clearly demon- 

 strated by the investigations of the Illinois and Indiana Experi- 

 ment Stations quoted in a preceding paragraph. In Illinois it was 

 found that in 1902 more than one-half of the cattlemen from 

 whom reports were obtained were feeders who purchased the 

 cattle they finished for market ; in addition, more than one-third 

 were both feeders and breeders, but even the latter purchased 

 most of their feeding cattle. 2 About 85 percent of the native beef 

 steers marketed in Chicago were fattened after having been pur- 

 chased as stockers and feeders. 3 In Indiana in 1906, 929 reports 

 were received from cattlemen in that state, of whom 42 percent 

 were found to purchase all their feeding cattle and 52 percent 

 grew only a part of them and bought the remainder. 4 



The extent and tendency of this important phase of the in- 

 dustry are also shown in a measure by the shipments of stockers 

 and feeders from the large cattle markets during recent decades 

 (see Table 5). 



In the evolution, or transition, of corn-belt beef production 

 from a cattle-raising to a steer-feeding proposition with a large 

 proportion of the feeders purchased at the large markets, the 

 business, to a considerable extent, has gravitated into the hands 

 of men who handle comparatively large numbers of cattle from 

 a few carloads to several hundred head. Tho these professional 

 cattle feeders in most cases are farmers, they usually buy all 



'III. Agr. Exp. Sta., Circ. No. 140, p. 8. 

 2 I11. Agr. Exp. Sta., Circ. No. 88, p. 1. 

 111. Agr. Exp. Sta., Circ. No. 79. p. 6. 

 4 Ind. Agr. Exp. Sta., Circ. No. 12. p. 12. 



