Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-12-30


not one cattle grower in 100 had any
adequate idea of how wonderfully rapid
the cost per pound of putting on flesh
increases as beasts advance in age
Our common native cattle ill about the
same place in the market with the
western stock and sell for about the
same prices sometimes less if anything
Most of the western cattle. and our
common natives are from to 4 years
old when marketed, while our less high
grades are easily made ready at one
year to q years old. These thick,
meaty. young grades always being
from l cent to cents higher price pei
pound than the other sort. Here is an
advantage of at least one years time
and at least two cents pound higher
price. besides the fact that they have
consumed less food to make a greater
gain. We must be alive to these facts,
and advancing. We must elevate our
standard of excellence by a careful
selection of such cattle as will make
strong, thrifty feeders, capable Of
digesting the greatest amount of food
that can be developed in the shortest
possible time into thick, deep set, mel
low beef
If we would reap the high prices, our
steers must be of the fine boned, blockv
short legged sort, with a deep, wei
filled heart and shoulder, a straight
back. well ribbed up aud straight line
underneath. smooth, deep hip, not toe
wide, with heavy TANKS carried well
down to the hooks, their heads should
be set well up on a short, well crested
neck, there should be rudy, lusty
look about their faces with bright pleas
ant eyes, they must be soft handlers ID
the skin which should be covered with
fine, thick. messy coat of hair.
think Mr.. Randall in his book "Ameri.
can Sheep Husbandy." quotes someone
as giving the three great requisites of q
good sheep i'll these words: LIST. Con-
stitution. I'd. Constitution. Sd. Constitu.
ton. We may make like comparison
with our cattle, and require, LIST. Sub
| stance. I'd. Substance. Sd. Substance.
/ cannot refrain from telling a story
of a Scotch gentleman, who was once
called upon to act as one of the judges
upon sheep at fair where Twas exhibit.
ing some shropshire Donns. The ex-
preston the old gentleman used, carried
so much meaning. He and the other
judge could not agree as to which sheep
was the best. The favorite with the
other judge was tall and rather lathy
sheep, with good deal of daylight
under him, while the canny Scott had
selected broad, deep, short-legged one,
so near the ground as to deceive any but
practiced eye. Finally, with arguing
the Scotchman lost his patience and
pointing with indignant pride at his
choice cried out, 20 mon ken We nae see
hoo he cosers the ground" Those are
the sort of steers that can always be fed
to profit They must cover the ground.
Now l want to describe our scrub
cattle. to make the distinction clear as
MONDAY, and to do so, l will quote the
language of one of the most successful
breeders and feeders of cattle in Europe,
Mr.. VIM. McCombie, of Tillyfowe, Aber-
deenshire, Scotland. Chiefly to whose
energy. foresight and grand judgment,
coupled; that of MIR. Hugh Watson,
we have to-day the splendid Polled Angus
breed of cattle. In an essay of his upon
the subject of Cattle and Cattle news,
delivered before the Chamber of Agri-
culture he was describing the difference
then existing between the native Gallo
ways and the Aberdeen and Angus
cattle. In speaking of the Galloways he
said: They have too much thickness
of skin and too much timber in their
legs. They are too thick in their tails,
too deep in their necks and too sunken
in the eye for being the very best feeders.
1t is difficult to make them ripe. You
can bring them three-fourths fat, and
then they stick. You can't fatten a
fanning-mill by pouring oats through it.
Neither can you fatten beast if he has
not power of assimilation. Again he
says: Thick legs, thick tails, sunken
eyes and deep necks, with thick skins
and bristly hair, always point to sluggish
breeders.
If we were all to try our level best, do
you think any of us could write better
description of the scrub cattle, which we
have in almost every town in this state,
especially i'll the northern part of the
state. Mr.. McCombie was one of the
most successful cattle feeders of his day
in Scotland. He was brought up to il
from mere lad under the instruction OF
his father He was not content with
standing at the head in every show-ring
and market in his native country, but
went to the great International Show in
France and on to the great Smithfield in
England. Coping, in these places, with
the best cattle in Europe, winning the
blue ribbons, both in the stall and on
the block, with his Black Polled Angus
Doddies. If we only had such men here
among us to lead, how easy it might be
10 follow. The next proposition is,
How can we produce and mature our
cattle with the greatest economy of time
and feed, with the smallest possible
amount of capital" This brings us to
the various systems of feeding, all OF
which probably have their especially
good features, varied by peculiar loca-
ton. have never had any experience
in high system of stall feeding.
presume nearly all cattlemen in this
state are like myself, more vitality inter.
ested in the plan of feeding in the straw
yards with sheds, and of summer feed
ing and grazing. | will speak more
particularly of these latter systems. ]
will discuss only such systems as you
can all follow without dollars outlay,
and give facts and figures that you can
20 10 bn,,,a ord ,,Sa -, x.o,,,. ..x-,, to....