Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-08-11
Feed ana Fstten Good Stock.

Pork is down! down. .-four cents
per pound, live weight-and owners
are also down-in the mouth. Yet
they have no good reason to com.
plain. Wool was down last year
and the under lip Of wool men lost
elasticity-was, in fact, collapsed
This season they are again happy
those who did not render their
mutton into suet, for soap-greasc-
No commodity can always remain
at the top of the market. Prices
must rise and fall, tiuctlate with
the demand, or scarcity Of any
commodity.
Pork at four cents pound still
represents price equal to forty
cents a bushel for corn. 70 those
who both breed and fattcn an i'm
proved breed Of swine, forty cents
for corn is probably better than can
be obtained except at distributing
points. 1t is buying stock at large
prices to feed that ruins so many.
We have heretofore shown that the
feeder might realize profit by breed
ing as well, and it is not necessary
to 90 over the same ground again.
There is no better time to breed an
imals than when they can be bought
low. They may be ready for sale
just when they are at the top Of the
market.
The breeding of cattle, especially
has been allowed to anguish of late
years, and the introduction of Texan
cattle, and the devastating Spanish
fever have followed. Are we keep
ing up our stock of cattle? Most
assuredlv not. The stock market
steadily shows decrease in the
quantity Of beef cattle. Our market
reports too often read as follows
sFirst quality Of steers, that is, we'll
bred animals averaging 400 lbs,
merely nominal, would bring eight
to eight and a half cents, but none
or only few offcr.ng.'
Farmers have been depicting
their stocks by selling the best ami
mails to feeders, because the large
prices which the war and subsc-
qucnt scarcity induced were bait
that they could not refuse. After
the exhaustion of the former great
cattle breeding districts, buyers
ransacked Wisconsin, Michigan,
Northern Indiana, and other sec
tons, for ''pony' cattle, and now
they are failing. We have hereto
fore shown how a farmer, by select
ing the best roomy native cows, and
breeding to good, mcaty, thorough
bred bulls, might work into class
of stock that, for all practical pur-
poses, would be as good as the best,
and better for beef and milk than
the 'sterribly high bred cattle"
Many farmers suppose that the
breeding of fine cattle is Il fine art
So it is, and requires only good com
mon sense, and such judgment as
any farmer Of common sense ought
to possess. One must of course
study the capabilities Of the ami
mails in question, seek to remedy
defects if any, by mating with ami
mails particularly good in those re-
spccts in which the others are def
cicnt, discarling, however, such as
have glaring defects. Any farmer
who will give this attention may
soon educate himself thereto, but
the trouble is, that too many expect
these better bred animals to be bet
fer able to take care Of and slirk
for themselves, than the roods cat
tie. But the finer the animal, or
plant, as a rule, the less it will bear
ahuse or starvation, and the better
i . Il! re,,;;ay care and culture. Fine
horses are not raised by letting them
lam precarious subsistence as
hest they may during the long
',onths of winter. The cattle of
,hn nlains of Texas and the steppes
af south America, where feed Is