40 Western Live-stock Management 



case they are not fat they go to the feeders in the Corn- 

 Belt, and there, after three to six months, they are sent 

 to the big markets. Not all of the cattle, however, are 

 transferred in this manner, and as stated before, many 

 are born, grown, and finished on the same farm. Es- 

 pecially is this true of Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and 

 California. This region is more varied in its agricultural 

 and grazing conditions, and the tendency is much greater 

 to raise and finish the steer on the same farm. Another 

 factor is that the western markets handle much of the 

 beef produced in these states, which means that the cattle 

 cannot very well be shipped to the Corn-Belt for finish- 

 ing, but this must be accomplished somewhere in the 

 Northwest. In the northwestern country such immense 

 areas of land of approximately uniform nature are not 

 commonly found ; on the other hand, however, the sum- 

 mer range, spring and fall ranges, winter ranges, and 

 alfalfa are found well mixed together, often all within a 

 very few miles. Hence, the Northwest is not only adapted 

 to the grazing, growing, and finishing of the steer on the 

 same farm, but is especially adapted to the small stock- 

 man, handling from 50 up to 400 or 500 head, and is 

 much less adapted to the big outfit, running cattle by the 

 thousands. 



RANGE CATTLE 



The range cattle-man's business varies slightly in dif- 

 ferent parts of the West, but generally speaking, his 

 equipment and operation will be about as follows : He 

 will own a considerable tract of land, usually scattered 

 over a large area, so as to cover most of the available water 

 and all of the hay land. If he has land sufficient to raise 

 a large amount of hay and to cover a number of streams 



