CHAPTEE IV. 



THE MONEY TO BE MADE. 



An Investment of $25,000 for Six Years and the Probable Profits 

 —The Same for Five Years— The Cattle-Supply. 



I have often been asked what a given sum of money 

 invested in cattle would produce to the owner in a term 

 of say six years. Of course we might answer, that 

 would depend very much upon the skill of the man- 

 ager, and so it would ; but taking it for granted that 

 good business management was displayed, then a herd 

 ought to yield an annual increase of at least 25 per 

 cent, per annum. 



It is a remarkable fact that a large portion of the 

 money invested in cattle is borrowed capital, and upon 

 this a high rate of interest is paid. A gentleman who 

 understands the cattle business two years ago made the 

 following proposition to the writer, with a view of 

 buying a herd on joint account : 



We start with a capital of $25,000 cash, and assume 

 that of all three-year-olds, one-half by the next spring 

 are cows, and the balance four-year-old steers or 

 " beeves," also that 80 per cent, of the cows have calves 

 that mature. We buy high-grade Durham bulls, and 

 put them with Texas cattle that have been wintered on 

 the Arkansas River (driven from Texas the year before) 

 and delivered on our range in July. 



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