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 
