2 Miscellaneous Circular 74, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 
The equipment and arrangement of the farm were typical of what 
the average farmer could provide, and Mr. Nelson decided that his 
stock should have no better feed or care than would be possible on 
any farm. | 
The first calves had been sired by whatever bulls the original 
owners of the cows had used. Those that showed unmistakable 
evidences of dairy breeding were discarded. Those showing Here- 
ford or Aberdeen-Angus characteristics, though fully the equal of 
those showing Shorthorn characteristics, were also discarded, because - 
Shorthorn bulls were to be used in the breeding demonstration and 
it seemed desirable to work with only one breed. 
Mr. Nelson had a preference for roan steers, believing that they 
possessed superior feeding qualities. Since one method of obtaining 
the roan color is to breed white bulls to red cows, he selected white 
Fic. 1—A group of original cows used as a basis for the grading-up operations. 
These animals were ordinary red cows but of reasonably good beef type, such as 
any farmer can pick out at a public stockyard. Compare with improved stock 
on following pages 
Shorthorn bulls to use with the red cows already purchased. Later 
breeding work, however, included many roan bulls. 
The foregoing outline of the project represents the purpose, plan, 
and progress up to the time of Mr. Nelson’s death. He was 71 years 
old when he acquired Sni-a-Bar Farms, and he completed the selec- 
tion of the foundation stock only a few months before his death, in 
1915. Under the terms of his will, the breeding operations are to: 
continue for 30 years from the time of his death. The work was 
continued by Mrs. Laura Nelson Kirkwood, as trustee, until her 
death in February, 1926. Since then it has been carried on by the 
following trustees appointed by the presidents of the Universities of 
Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma: William Volker, J. Clyde Nichols, 
and Herbert V. Jones, all of Kansas City, with W. A. Cochel, of the 
Weekly Kansas City Star, as consultant, 
