76 Western Live-stock Management 
Of course a poorer steer will turn a profit if bought cheaply 
enough, but in the West where the cattle are bought from 
the producers, it is difficult to buy the poor cattle at their 
real value. A few years ago everything sold for so much 
a head regardless of weight or quality. Now selling is 
mostly by weight, but there is still a strong tendency for 
everyone to want the same price a pound and the man 
with poor cattle is usually hard to deal with. 
The class of cattle fed in the West is much more uni- 
form than in the East. Western feeders handle practi- 
cally no calves or yearlings nor do they produce the 
extremely fat heavy cattle sometimes found in the cen- 
tral states. These fancy cattle require long feeding on 
heavy grain rations and cannot be produced on alfalfa 
alone. Furthermore the western markets do not demand 
this class of cattle and cannot pay a price that will justify 
their production, while the distance to the eastern markets 
is so great that it is hard to get fancy cattle there in good 
condition. 
Alfalfa fed to the proper kind of cattle will produce a 
steer weighing about 1100 to 1300 pounds and dressing 
57 to 59 per cent, which, fortunately, is a very practical 
steer for both producer and consumer. 
Steers fat enough to dress out 60 to 65 per cent are very 
expensive to produce and their carcasses contain a great 
amount of waste tallow, all of which makes the cost of the 
beef to the consumer so high that only the ultrawealthy 
can possibly afford it. On the other hand, the thin steers 
dressing 48 to 55 per cent make tough watery beef and 
the average consumer is willing to pay enough more for a 
better steer to justify their production. Of course there 
is some demand for all grades of beef but by far the great- 
est demand, cost considered, is for the steer free from any 
