Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1878-05-30
LIV STOCK.
BEEF CATTLE.

improve the blood of their beef cattle as
they are nov, nor has there ever been a
time when they could have made the i'm
sprovement with less cost than at this mo-
ment. During the last few months the
prices of all but the best cattle have been
low in the western markets, and there has
been nothing of late to warrant a hope, that
better times are soon coming. This has
been ascribed, from time to time, to vari-
Gus causes, but few, if any, have given as a
reason the fact that the greater part of the
steers put upon the western markets are
zsadly lacking in style and condition. A
large part of the receipts here is composed
Of steers Of medium weights, rather more
than half fat. and sadly lacking in that
which good breeding alone will give. Just
now this description OF cattle are particular
ly hard to sell, because they have to COM
pete in eastern markets. with the high grade
cattle going forward in great numbers from
Tennessee, from Kentucky, from Virginia,
from southern Ohio and Indiana. Within a
few years Tennessee and Virginia have made
great progress; in CATTLE raising. and are now
able to furnish nearly all the beeves Balti-
more, Philadelphia and some other eastern
cities want during the winter months. The
stock they send forward is it is true, as a
rule grass faltened, but that is no disadvan-
tage to the feeder. The, beef is in prime
condition when it reaches the markets nam
ed, having had but a short run. The fat is
evenly distributed the flesh, instead of be-
ing as it is in the majority of our western
steers, nearly all next the skin and the
butchers will of course buy the cattle when
they can get them, at even a considerable
ADVANCE over the prices they would be call
ed upon to pay for western steers.
An idea OF the extent to which the west
ern feeder is suffering from the competition
of the States named is given by the fact that
one day last week, when the receipts OF cat
tie in Baltimore were / 900, Tennessee had
400 head there, Virginia 100, while South
ern Ohio and Indiana made up the bulk of
the other five hundred. If this condition
of affairs is bad for us now, what will it be
hereafter, if nothing be done to enable west
ern men to compete upon more equal terms
with their eastern rivals. The growth OF
tIlt CullIC DttSlllCSS NJ VIC SOutluy uCllllO
ed has been great in more ways than one.
We know of a valley in West Virginia
where a few years after the close of the war,
only a few scrubby cattle were to be seen.
Now thousands of high grade bullocks are
annually turned off by the farmers in that
valley in prime condition. 1t is scarcely
reasonable to expect that when so great an
improvement has been made within a few
years there will by any falling back into all
the old ways.
A few years ago almost every family in
the land used more or less pork. A change
used beet as being healthier, pleasanter and
not infrequently cheaper than pork. This
winter there has been q radical change.
People find that pork, fresh or cured, is
cheaper than beef, and thousands who have
used very little pork since the war are now
using it freely. The effect of tins change
on the profits of cattle owners has been
plainly seen during the last thrge months,
for none but the best stock has been selling
for what are considered good prices.
That the Western farmer can hold his
own against all the adverse influences men
toned by raising the grade of his cattle is
shown by the fact that we'll bred steers are
selling readily in this market at S. to $3.50
per hundred weight, while all other cattle
are extremely hard to sell at prices ranging
from 81 to $3.50. The English trade still
offers advantages to those who have stock
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