The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-06-27
FARM TOPICS.
Faulty Western Systems of Feeding.

tour last season (says the Country Gen
Hemaa), eriticises our s. common" cat
tie even more roughly than we think
they deserve, and rates oar best Amerl-
can beef as by no means a superior ar
ticle. Mr.. NJ. admits, it viii be seen,
that on this subject there is o difference
of opinion on his own side of the At
lantic. We make the following extract,
not only to show the grounds on which
his criticism rests, but also because we
should be glad if it ELECTS discussion
among our readers on the merits of his
positions:
"The best quality of beef is raised
mostly in the States of Illinois, Ken
lucky, Ohio, and Indiana, each of the
neighboring States contributing a small
quantity. Illinois undoubtedly takes
the lead in regard to the gross quantity
of fiIst-class beef it Produces; but it
contains at the same time so many COM
mon cattle, that, with respect to the
percentage of good beef to inferior,
Kentucky stands fully as high. Ohio and
Indiana are pretty nearly on level,
High grades-second, third, and fourth
crosses between common cows and im-
proved bulls, mostly Short-horns-are
the producers of the prime beef of
America, that which has been designat-
ed .frst-class;' and between these high
grades and the common cattle of the
country there is a large number of cat
tie that have a sprinkling of improved
blood in their veins, and that receive
better attention than is general in Amer
lea, and that yield fair quality of beef,
slightly inferior to the beef of high
grades (about equal to third-rate British
beef but still not wholly unsuited for
export to Britain; while small pro-
portion of the common cattle, the very
finest of the common steers, yield beef
that might pass in an emergency.
Regarding the quality of the best
siderable difference of opinion. Broth
er Jonathan tells us that it can't be
beat anywhere ia the world; and even
on the Eastern side of the Atlantic there
are few who maintain that it is quite
equal to the finest quality of beef the
British Isles have ever produced. Not
outstanding all that has been said to
the contrary, my firm opinion is that
the best quality of American beef has
no comparison whatever with the best
quality of British beef It must be
placed on level with second class Brit
ish beef, but higher position it can not
claim. And my reasons for SO thinking
are easily explained. To begin with,
| the class of cattle which produce, the
best quality of American beef are decid-
eddy inferior in almost every point to
! the best beef cattle of Britain. Their
imme diate ancestors on the female side
were rough, coarse, big-boned, muscu-
lar cattle, far from well suited for the
production of beef; and though the in
fluence Of the improved sires has fled
away these coarse points considerably
and engrafted many new qualities, still
they display remnants of the character
istics of the original breed Cor rather
breeds) which seriously reduce the
quality of their beef. They are still too
big-boned, too narrow along the top,
too fiat on the rib, have too much mus
Gle, and are unsatisfactory both in touch
and quality. To be sure, every success
sive cross lessons the faults but before
they can all be hidden several genera.
tons must be built on the top of that
now living. Surprising, however, that
the best class of beef cattle in
| America and Britain were equal
1y good in breeding and
general characteristics, the manner in
which eattle-feeding is carried on in
America would Of itself leave that coun-
try far behind Britain in reg I'd to the
quality of its best class of beef. As pre-
viously stated, the finest quality, as well
as the maximum quantity, of beef can
be produced only by the animal being
fed unvaryingly from its birth EDWARDS
and while this principle is not observed
in Britain nearly SO generally as it oueh hi
to be, it is barely recognized in America
at all. In Britain cattle-feeding has be-
i come a science; in America it is work
that may be executed in the most con-
venient haphazard manner. The tenn
/ perature and constitution of the animal
receive no attention from the American
/ farmer, neither does he take any heed
whether Or not his animals are supplied
with food containing in proper proper
/ tons commodities which form, flesh,
fat, bone, and muscle. When he wishes
! to fatten his cattle, he scatters in the
| field among them an abundance of In
dian corn and a seasoning of salt, and
leaves the rest of the fattening process
to the animals themselves and to nature
It is the misfortune of the American
farmer that nature has done so much
for him; but kind though it be, it does
not satisfactorily accomplish all that is
left to it in the feeding of cattle. /,
does not supply in the atmosphere, MOI
in any other shape, the ingredients which
are lacking in Indian corn for the eff
cient feeding of cattle, neither does il