Western Kansas world., 1885-03-21
STOCK SQUIBs.
Points and Items About Kansas Stock

Points and Items About Kansas Stock.
Peabody Graphic: J. S. Mize, of Flor
ence, who recently returned from a visi,
to his father, a heavy cattle owner a;
Medicine Lodge, gives very discourag
ing report of the condition of the range
cattle in that section. Mr.. Mize says
that at the time of his visit, prior to the
late storm, fully sixty per cent OF the
cattle had died, and those living were lit.
tie better than animated skeletons, with
scarcely strength enough to keep them
on their feet. Similarreports from other
parts of the country, where cattle are
kept on ranges during the winter, have
been received, and the death loss in dol
lars and cents this winter is almost be.
yond computation. The experiences OF
this winter have taught the stockmen a
lesson that they will doubtless heed.
They have discovered at last that cattle
cannot be raised like wild animals, with
no expense other than branding and
rounding up for sale. The time was
when immense fortunes were made by
men who commenced the business by
turning a few COWS and bulls loose upon
the prairie and letting them run atlarge,
without care of any kind. But that time
hasgone by. Great cattle kings with mil
lions of dollars invested, and who count
their herds by tens of thousands, have
overrun the entire west, so that every
foot of land is occupied and the grass is
grazed so closely during the growing
months that winter finds them with but
meagre feed, and before warm weather
comes the prairies are strewn with their
attenuated bodies, and those that sur
vive are so weak and reduced in flesh
that they can never recover, and they
make but Indifferent beef This winter
has been a severe one on cattle, and
probably the death loss is greater than
ever known before, but it done more to-
ward breaking up the great cattle
monopolies than legislation ever could
do. It is well known to every intelli-
gent stockman, that cattle turned loose
upon the prairie to shift for themselves,
without feed, shelter or care of any kind,
the laws of reproduction wholly disre-
garded can produce nothing but scrubs,
lacking in all the qualities for which
cattle are raised. While it is true that
these scrubs cost but little and always
have certain market value, the prices
they command are insignificant when
brought into comparison with the price
paid for the ponderous and carefully
raised thoroughbred cattle, and this fact
becoming more apparent every day, the
verdict will soon be reached that '.the
scrub must CO." and 60 he will.
Medicine Lodge Cresset: Charley Col
cord was in last Saturday and reporte d
everything lovely. He says they will
not trust to the range again; that the
time when you could turn an old COW
out with nothing but promises of helping
her out of the bog holes in the spring
and gathering her in the roundup, has
passed. They are feeding a bunch OF
beeves in Sedgwick county and bunch
of COWS and heifers in Kingman county,
all of which are doing well.
Dodge City Globe Journal: Our stock
associations wants to be on the alert
somewhat and appoint a few hide in.
spectors to be stationed at prominent
shipping points and overhaul the hides
that are being brought to market. We
fear hides are being sold and handled by
parties that never owned q "critter" OF
without authority from ranchmen to
handle them. 1t will do no harm to look
out for these fellows.
After describing the recent snow.
storm at Coldwater. correspondent says
1t is useless to disguise the fact thai il
was severe on range cattle, as two OF
three days without feed in the present
condition of cattle is attended with
greater loss than ten days would have
been in December. There are, however