— 25 — 
It is evident that at these prices there is not much dif¬ 
ference in the profits or returns from the two classes of 
stock. 1 he whole problem is, therefore, narrowed to the 
single question, which is the more likely to happen, a differ- 
ence of one cent per pound between the cost and selling 
price of hay fed steers if marketed in Omaha, or a differ- 
u tw ° cents P er P ou ncl between the cost of lambs in 
the tall and what they will sell for on the Chicago market ? 
d he prices of different years would give different 
answers to this question. During i8q4~qs» lambs cost HT 2c 
per head, with the freight paid to Omaha, which would be 
about $2.24 per hundred pounds live weight ; and they sold 
t? r ,’ 5 T or three and one-fourth cents per pound more 
than they cost. 1 he fall of 1895 lambs cost $1.65 each, or 
$2.84 per hundred pounds. They sold on the average for a 
little less than two cents per pound more than they cost. 
"I he steers that cost $2.50 the fall of 1894, brought $4 
11 1 1 ^y IT !fha four months later, while many steers that cost $2 
the fall of 1895 brought at Omaha, in March 1896, but $3.50. 
d here is certainly a great difference of profits in these 
two years, but the profits in either year are not much differ¬ 
ent with sheep and cattle. 
On the average, sheep have paid a little better than 
cattle ; and, since a given change in the market affects the 
profits from sheep less than those from cattle, there is less 
danger of loss from the slight daily fluctuations of the mar¬ 
ket that are continually occurring. 
Another item strongly in favor of the sheep is, the less 
first cost compared with feed eaten and final return. To 
eat 200 tons of hay requires about 100 steers at a cost of 
$2,900. While in sheep it requires 1,000 head at a cost of 
$1,600, or about one-half of the cash invested. As 
most of the feeding is done in this country on money bor¬ 
rowed from the bank, it follows that much more hay will be 
eaten from each $r,ooo invested if the hay is fed to sheep. 
MARKET PRICE AS INFLUENCED BY FEED. 
When the steers were ready for market, the buyer for 
the Colorado Packing Company, of Denver, Mr. C.Burkhart, 
came to Port Collins and priced each steer separately and 
then priced the bunch as a whole, ddie price as a whole 
figured within four cents per hundred of the price of each 
separately. The separate prices have therefore been taken 
as the selling price of each steer. The selling prices were 
as follows: 
