The American Cattle Trade 
359 
York. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, the numbers of milch-cows 
and other cattle are nearly equal. 
In all parts of the country will be found farmers who raise 
more or less beef for market, keeping the animals on their 
own premises from birth till they leave the stall. But this is 
not the rule in beef production. In three distinct regions, the 
conditions to which the farmer is subjected differ essentially. 
In the Eastern States, especially, and largely in the Middle States, 
the farmers not only depend upon the grain fields of the West for 
their corn and " shorts," but find it cheaper to buy their cattle 
ready-made, at two or three years old, from the more favoured 
grazing regions, than to raise them at home. This is so gene- 
rally the case, that calves in these districts are often a drug in the 
market. Many are knocked on the head immediately after birth, 
and thousands hurried into veal by all sorts of unnatural processes, 
to save the milk and cream, which is more valuable than the calf. 
I have three instances fresh in mind illustrating this fact : one 
calf was killed and buried immediately after birth ; another, ot 
good size and condition to fatten for veal, was sold for its hide 
for Is. 8d. when two days old ; and the third, being from an 
extra butter cow by a thoroughbred sire, the owner disliked to 
kill it, but sought in vain for a week to give it away, among the 
farmers of the neighbourhood. The first and last were males, 
the other a heifer. These are not exceptional cases, — in the dairy 
districts the people cannot afford to raise their calves even till fit 
for merchantable veal. But with cattle and grain, both brought 
from the West, the profit of stall-feeding in this Eastern section 
is very questionable. The main objects with most farmers are, 
a home consumption of their hay, and a home production of a 
good supply of barnyard-manure. If the manure alone can be 
gained, the farmer is usually satisfied ; but in many cases, ot 
late years, such operations have resulted in manure made at a 
cost exceeding its value. 
In the Central region, among the great corn-fields between the 
Alleghany Mountains and the Missouri river, grain-food is so 
cheap and so much exceeds the home demand, that the rule is 
to raise all increase of the live-stock, and buy largely besides, 
for fattening, from the fine pastures of the South and West. 
The profits resulting are manifest from the fact that there is a 
steady demand at all the chief cattle markets of this region, 
especially Chicago, for " Stockers," or thrifty animals from two- 
and-a-half to four years old, in poor flesh, weighing from 600 
to 1000 lbs. These are taken into the country, even as far 
as 150 miles from the place of purchase, and prepared for beef. 
Steers thus treated often gain 250 lbs. in a season on grass 
alone, affording a profit of 3/., and then 200 lbs. more are 
VOL. XIII. — s. s. 2 c 
