Arizona weekly citizen. [volume] (Tucson, Ariz) 1880-1901, 1890-02-22
A CATTLE MAN
Gives his Views on the Cattle In
dustry.

dustry.
| In conversation with one of our prom
inent cattle owners, a CITIZEN repre-
sentative learned the following interest
ing facts concerning the stock raising
industry in this county This gentle
man said:
Despite the fact that many of our
ranchmen feel despondent at the com
paratively low prices of cattle, consid
or that the stock raising industry OF this
territory is in healthier condition al
present, than it has been, and that the
prospects for the Immediate future are
better than ever before. Heretofore
the market for the disposal of our cat
tie has not only been limited but de
cidedly uncertain. We have had TO de
pend entirely on few speculators from
California, who buy to-day TO sell to-
morrow and who naturally expect to
reap rich profits from their purchases
For this reason buyers from California
are nearly always in search of good beef
cattle and seldom want more than four
carloads at time. This of course is
not nearly enough to carry off the vast
year y increase OF our cattle as beef
First and foremost We do not raise beef,
and secondly even if we did, We are too
far away from the large beef markets to
be able to get rid OF our cattle as such.
A steer, which if slaughtered on the
range would make excellent beef, will,
when landed in Chicago, in the language
of the butcher, ''kill black" or nearly so.
Southern Arizona is peculiarly ad-
apted 70 the breeding and growing of
stock. Our climate and our ranges are
unequaled in this respect, by any other
country in the world, and the DsrcaniasA
OF yearly increase ID something marvel
Gus. 1t cannot be said, however, that
this country is fitted for the fattening g
OF cattle. True it is, that certain sea-
sons of the year our cattle grow exceed
ingly fat, but it is not a substantial,
lasting fat. A sharp cold spell, no
matter how short, will materially reduce
it, and travel on the cars will completely
destroy 1t.
To my notion there is only one way
in which We can help to get rid of our
steers and that is to sell them for feed
ers. We always have feeders On our
rangers but seldom have beef | think
the market which has newly opened
to us from the north is all important to
our cattle industry. This is the only
practicable way in which we can reach
the great beef centers Of the east. 1t is
useless to consider the shipping of our
cattle direct to Kansas City or Chicago,
for as have already stated, experiment
has proven that they will not be fit to
slaughter when they reach those points.
Besides, the losses attendant on such a
long trip cut heavily into the profits.
Ii however. we .can sell our cattle to
northern buyers for feeders and they in
turn can fatten them in n few months
and sell them for beef in the east, we
will have succeeded in reaching the
eastern markets with our cattle.
Two very decided benefits result from
this arrangement. First, prices will ad-
Just themselves and reach the maximum;
they will become more stable and we
can know beforehand what to expect
for our cattle. Secondly, we will be as
sured Of selling all our cattle aud will
only have to go to the expense of
gathering them; which every one knows
Is by no means a trit1e. On the other
hand, If We wait TO sell our cattle for
beef, owing to the fact that seldom more
that half OF our steers are fat at any one
time, we shall have to wait four or five
years, and go to the expense of as many
round ups" before we can succeed in
selling our herd. This of course ma
terially reduces, if it does not altogether
exhaust, the profits Of any additional
price which might be obtained for beef.
Some ranchmen complain at the small
ness of the price which feeders COM
mand. / am of the opinion that 80 to
S11 for two year old in this country
are very fair prices and that at
these figures the cattle business here
can be made remunerative. / think the
experience of all systematic ranchmen
will bear me out in this assertion.
An Ill feature OF the cattle business
in this territory is the total lack of CO.
OpSidblOH anu OIb bdllZdIlVu dHuOBESO Iuc
different owners. The uncertainty and
and instability of prices for cattle, l
think are due entirely to this lack of
organization. There is no other way to
account for the fact that John Brown
to day sells his steers at S1.50 per hum
dred lbs. whilst the same day, his neigh
Dor sells the same class and quality of
cattle for S1.75 per hundred.
The advantages Of organized effort in
any industry are SO apparent, and in that
Of stock raising, have so clearly been
proven in other states and territories,
that it Is needless TO review them.
Cattle men here are gradually awakening
to this fact, and before long it is to be
hoped, that we'll conducted stock asso-
citation for the common good OF all
ranchers, will be fiourishing in this ter
ritory."
T-