252 PROFITABLE STOCK RAISING 



or barley should be substituted. If alfalfa or 

 clover is being fed, the supply should be decreased 

 and more timothy or corn fodder given. This 

 treatment will tend somewhat to harden the flesh, 

 and heavy shrinkage will be less likely to occur. 



The preparing of animals for market should 

 include not only developing their final con- 

 dition to its highest points, but keen dis- 

 crimination in grading the stock. Uniformity in 

 car lots has fully as much to do with the price re- 

 ceived as the actual condition of the animals. Every 

 farmer knows that if he takes to market a lot of 

 cattle of mixed color and of varying sizes he will 

 be discriminated against on this account. A lot of 

 pure black cattle, or a car lot in which every in- 

 dividual shows the white face of the Hereford 

 breed, or the pure red or roan color of the Short- 

 horn, will invariably command a better price, each 

 separated by itself, than if the three cars were 

 mingled together in one pen and ofifered for sale. 

 By far the greatest number of championships for 

 carload lots of fat cattle at the international stock 

 show at Chicago has been won by black Angus 

 cattle. It is finish and uniformity which has 

 brought this result in nearly every instance. 

 These cattle finish remarkably well, better than the 

 average of other breeds, and they are bred so true 

 to type that, with good judgment in making 

 the original selection, a carload can be gotten 

 together in which each individual is almost exactly 

 like every other one. This quality of uniformity 

 is one which should receive more attention than is 

 ordinarily given it. A farmer who fattens more 

 than one car of cattle, sheep or hogs can afford to 

 spend a lot of time in selecting and separating his 

 stock at shipping time so that each lot will show a 



