GRAZING INDUSTRY OF THE BLUEGRASS REGION. 17 
THE SUPPLY OF STOCKERS. 
One of the chief difficulties of the grazing farmer in the bluegrass 
region is the lack of stockers. A few cows are kept on nearly every 
farm, but they produce but a small number of the calves that are needed. 
The reason that so few calves are raised on the bluegrass lands is be- 
cause it is more profitable to graze a steer than to keep a cow an en- 
tire year just for her calf. Dairying does not fit in well in the agricul- 
tural scheme of the region. There is not sufficient level land in most 
localities to produce the forage necessary to keep a dairy herd in win- 
ter, and any admixture of dairy blood renders 1,500-pound 3-year-old 
steers impossible. A few graziers have tried buying yearling heifers, 
keeping them until they get one calf and then selling the mothers. 
M;-" 
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Fig. 15.— A pasture when weeds have not been mowed. 
By this method they get not only the calf but an increase in the 
weight of the heifer. Some stockers are purchased in Chicago or 
Cincinnati, and a few come from Canada, but most of them are raised 
in the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and 
eastern Kentucky by men who keep but a few cows, which range at 
will. These calves are purchased by local cattle dealers, who sell to 
the grazing farmers. The quality of the stock is maintained largely 
because the best graziers have distributed pure-bred bulls for free 
service wherever they are most needed. (Fig. 16.) 
There should be a fairly profitable business on the cheaper lands of 
the Blue Ridge and in the Piedmont section in raising beef-bred 
calves for the bluegrass graziers. This will necessitate, however, the 
keeping of a much better grade of beef cattle than is usual. A good 
beef-bred calf will sell readily when 6 months old for $25 to $30. If 
