ARRETING CATTLE WHEN FINISHED 293 



lots, because of the expense, the difficulty may, in some 

 instances, be met by sending some other class of stock 

 in the same car that the grower may desire to dispose 

 of. This difficulty may also be overcome in time 

 through co-operation, as it were, in feeding and shipping. 

 Where prime cattle are finished in small lots in the same 

 neighborhood, the lots from different farms may be 

 bunched, as it were, for shipment in the same car. If 

 deemed advisable, the choicest may be selected for such 

 shipment and the less choice disposed of locally. In 

 brief, the aim should be to dispose of cattle of high 

 quality and finish in the best market within a reasonable 

 distance and to dispose of the common sorts in markets 

 in proximity. For the former there is a sure demand 

 in good markets at all seasons of the year, but for the 

 latter the demand is never brisk, because of the excess 

 at all times in the supply. 



In very many localities there is great room for im- 

 provement in the methods of disposing of fat cattle. 

 Improvement may be made by the adoption of measures 

 that will bring dealers in fat cattle and those who finish 

 them in closer touch. This can be done by growing 

 them more numerously in any locality. Where animals 

 fattened in small lots are sold to local dealers for ship- 

 ment, the dealer does not care to spend time operating 

 in such a locality. Where an increased number is only 

 sufficient to invite the attentions of but one dealer, he 

 is in a position, in a large measure, to fix the price that 

 he will pay. When many such animals are finished, 

 buyers are attracted and there is competing between 

 them, which improves the price to the seller. 



Improvement may also be made by the establish- 

 ment of live stock fairs in certain centers where they 

 may not exist. These fairs may be held monthly or bi- 

 monthly, or as often as may be necessary, in some con- 

 venient center. At these the sellers of various kinds of 

 stock mav exhibit what they have to sell. The dealers 



