Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 315 
be grazed during the present summer on reserved pastures and fed on hay in 
sheds the first winter, so as to accustom them gradually to the rigour of the 
Colorado winters. About the month of July, Mr. I li 11' buys in from 10,000 to 
15,000 Texas steers, rising two and three years, and retains them for a year 
or two, and then exports them to Chicago as beef in the fall, along with three 
and four-year-old steers of his own breeding. When bought these Texans 
weigh from (i00 to 800 lbs., and cost from $11 to $L5, and when sold they 
weigh, on the average, about 1000 lbs., and bring from $30 to $37, or from 3j 
to 31 cents per lb. of live weight. Mr. Iliffs steers of his own breeding weigh 
from 1100 to l'-!00 lbs. when sold, and bring from $38 to $50, or from 3j to H 
cents per lb. These native steers would probably weigh from COO to 700 lbs. 
in beef, which would thus cost the man who slaughters the animals from 6s to 
7i cents, or from 3i(/. to 3id. per lb. Mr. lliff employs about forty men all 
summer, and a dozen during winter, and pays them from $25 to $30 a-month 
and board. He requires 200 horses, and these are all bought in. Occasionally, 
in a severe snowstorm, cattle get a little hay, but never taste corn. 
" A good many herds, belonging to Wyoming and Nebraska stock-owners, 
mingle with Mr. Iliffs cattle between the north and south forks of the Platte 
River. Messrs. Swan Brothers have about 12,000 ; Messrs. Cary Brothers, 
10,000 ; Messrs. Creighton and M'Shane, 10,000 ; Messrs. Sturgers and Lane, 
8000; and Mr. Searight, 6000; while several others have herds nearly as 
large. All these men work, in the main, on the same plan as Mr. Iliff, but 
all are not so careful in the procuring of really good sires." 
It is not likely that many cattle from these herds have at present 
found their way to England ; but they have served to fill up the 
gap caused by the dressed-beef trade in the States from which 
such beef has hitherto been drawn ; and in course of time we 
shall probably procure meat from all the Western States. It is 
said that more cattle would have been sent to the seaboard from 
Illinois and Kentucky, but that the new business quite over- 
taxed the rolling-stock of the railway companies. The meat 
sent to England is from the " improved " herds, none but the 
best qualities being thought good enough for the export trade. 
The exporters were wise enough not to run the risk of injuring 
the reputation of the new business by sending any but first-class 
qualities, and the result was that American beef soon conquered 
the prejudice which at first existed against it in the minds of the 
British public. 
The native-bred cattle of Texas are considered inferior to 
those of most other Western States. Centuries ago the Moors 
of Andalusia reared large herds of awkward, lanky, long-horned 
cattle, some of which were taken across the Atlantic by the 
Spaniards who discovered Mexico, and afterwards settled in 
Texas. These cattle have been so exclusively reared ever 
since, that the Texan cattle of to-day may be called full- 
blooded Spanish, and they are said to have inherited all the 
characteristics of the original stock. On the vast plains of 
Texas these cattle became, to all intents and purposes, wild 
cattle ; and even yet some of the herds are in a semi-wild 
state, so that it is unsafe for a man on foot to venture amongst 
