The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1885-04-29
w. P. Turner Tells the Ten
nesseeans Something About
the Stock Business in
the West.
Meeting Of the Shonkin Stock Asso-
ciation Saturday Last-Other
Notes and Items Corraled
BY the Reporter.
a Talk by Turner.


The following i al extract from j
letter written by w. P. Turner, sr., OF
the eMarias, now sojourningi in Tennessee,
10 the Spirit Of the F arm, published al
Nashville:
Western cattle growers were at first.
no doubt, as slow to learn the value OF
good blood in cattle as the average Ten
nessee farmer, but not half SO slow To
take advantage Of it, after having once
seen the wonderful improvement this
blood made upon their longhorned
scrubs. In making this statement I am
governed by my past experience in your
state as q breeder Of thoroughbred Short
horns There may be, and [ hope has
been, great improvement amongst the
Tennessee farmers in this respect since
then; but at that time | found it most
difficult TO sell my young bu,s to them
at anything like remunerative prices ;
they would willingly admit the super
iority of my well-bred cattle, but were
invariably too poor to buy bull"
Now the western cattleman is never too
poor to buy. He will sell his shirt to-
day if ne sees that by so doing his in
vestment will enable him 10 buy an
entire Sunday salt il y few months
and it is in this light that he regards
the introduction Of good blood in his
herd,
The vast cattle ranges Of the west are
fast filing up, and the enormous for
tunes that we have seen accumulated in
the space OF a few years from this bust
ness are things Of the past; but there is
big money! yet 10 be made by the
western cattle grower-not 50 much
from the great number Of cattle owned,
and their rapid increase as in former
years, but by breeding up to a higher
standard, and improving the quality
without very materially increasing the
quantity, and in this way make more
pounds of beef to the head. AS stated
above, the western herdsman having
once tried it, was quick to appreciate
the advantages derived from using thor
oughbred bulls in his herd, and the
result has been that a great many of
these cattle show good breeding; but
well-bred bulls are wanted by the
thousands, and this demand upon the
eastern breeder will continue for many
years yet. The demand Tor thorough
bred Shorthorn bulls, or even high |
grades OF this blood, take precedent Of
all others, but there is also a steadily
increasing demand for bulls Of other
hardy beef breeds
1t may be that I am partial to the
Shorthorns. having once been breeder
of these grandly good cattle, but my |
experience as a ranchman, and my |
observations for five years over much |
of the WESTERN cattle lands, prompts me |
to say to your cattlemen, stick to the
''red, white and roans. There is
nothing that [ have seen west of the |
and east of the Rockies that
will give better results when crossed |
with the natives than Shorthorn bull, |
but they must be Shorthorns Of flinty |
no Duke or Duchess
blood will stand the rough usage Of the
range. When you remember, MI.
Editor, that | once worshipped at the
shrine of the royal Dukes and Duchess
you can understand how thor
oughly my western experience has
converted me, and at the same time how
free ann from prejudice on this ques-
ton of blood; but we want cattle in the
west to he rustlers, and, like their own
ers, able to give and take as the comforts
and discomforts Of life present. To the
breeder of pure Shorthorns / would say:
Keep them pure, and breed for constitu-
ton always, and they will certainly
come to the front again. But to those
who have grade Shorthorns I would
suggest that they use the Herefords,
Angus or Galloways, and I am very
much inclined to think that the big,
red cattle, the Sussex, recently introduc
ed into Tennessee by Mr.. Overton Lee,
"lll prove most valuable strain to mix
with the western herds. Beef, beef,
beef, all the time beef, is what we of the
west are after, and the animal that can
take on the most pounds in summer and |
lall on grass alone, and has the hardi-