San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-01-29
Cattle for Market.

&
when we ship. selecting the best and
of course retaining the beasts of in
different quality. Even the best
heifers go to the butcher from the
farms of men who do not cast ahead,
building with Judgment for the pur-
pose of having stock on hand upon
which SO pronounced culling can not
be practiced The question of profit
comes in as the first consideration In
the.case,of every animal wefeed ,wheth-
| er this be an inferior steer grazed up
on wild lands such an one as can not be
mature before he has attained his 5th
year, and not then nor at any time in
| the future be made ripe In the sense
in which the term is used in our day.
The public mind is gradually be-
coming educated up to point where
to realize that no goDd beef comes
t. US except it be first bred good.
Size is not AN index to merit as for
merly supposed. And especially was
it an erro. to suppose that the high
bred beef breeds produced calves
that were large at birth-larger than
the calves from scrub cows. The ten
dency of certain forest trees is to grow
large, while the crab tree and the
scrub oak is to remain dwarfed. yet
each at the start are alike small. No
soil or iertilizing material will cause
o scrub growth TO take on q gigan tic
growth. The innate tendency is in
in Inherent in the seed, and this rule
applies to cattle as well as trees.
Even under the present system of
breeding, backed by enterprise and
plenty OF capital, there are but very
few families who have access to good
meats, especially good beef; ard for a
long time to the bulk of shipments
to the leading mark will be low
down in quality. A small proportion
will be OF meddling quality. and a
very much smaller proportion will be
of the higher grades. Hence it will
continue to be especially encouraging
to those who are already and may in
the near future, engage i'm breeding
aud feeding the higher grades, for
there is not the slightest possibility
that his sort will not con tinue to be
| sought with avidity ard paid for at
top prices, the supply falling far
short of the demand. 1t Is said of
England, where all our beef breeds
origina, ed, that the bulk of tn @ cattle
seen in passing through the country
are not OF the improved types, and
even there, where epicurian lovers OF
beef abound, there are only butchers
who have the flesh of improved cattle
| upon their hooks.
1t would be wise on the part OF
farmers who breed their own feed
| ing ca tile to occasionally have an
| animal from the herd slaughtered
| under their own eye, the better to
determine what particular strain OF
| blood within the herd yielded the
best flesh, the best under modern
| lights at our command, discardiDg
| all whims and fancies as to color,
| shape and size OF horn, etc cleaving
| steadfast to that anatomical forma
| ton that packs the best parts of the
| BODY of the beast full OF flesh, this
flesh not having the solid red color
! of ripe cherry, but the striped APP
pearance of red apple; thus marked
| indicating the mar nlen state hereto
| fore infinitely described in these
| columns.
| The same plan which has now and
ther greatly changed the esthetlc
| standard of the collection of animals
rendering them more pleasing to the
| eve aud perhaps more successful In
the show ring if.applied with judg'
| meDt to the more su osiantial features
| of the herd, will result in evening up
| the surface, giving US thick, juicy
| cuts, where. in the scrub we only ob
tain thin, flavorless boiling pieces,
| It is within our power, fortunately,
il we have particular fancy for a
given feature in our collection, DO
this a short leg, full bosom, wide
| level LIN, or other feature deemed
desirable to have, to select from other
herds the material that will quite
certainly bring the required feature,
| implan ting il firmly-frmly and er.
duringly provided we always follow
up the gain by casting abous for
crosses that will, now that we have
introduced the coveted feature, rem
der his perpetuation certain.
We once new of regular annual
deal between butcher and a breeder
of plain, well. bred eattle-plaiu in so
far as the pedigree went, but good
| beef makers. A butcher I'm leading
Eastern city happened to learn OF the
peculiarly pronounced marbllng
quality of animals bred and grown in
bis herd, and each December he came
westward some 600 miles, selecting
his Christmas beef from this herd.
His customers looked forward to
this annual treat with feeling of
certainly that they would have the
palate tickled at Christmas time.
We visited herd being prepared
for sale in the usual manner, at pub
lie cutlery, and counted twelve cows
standing in q row, aud there was not
more than three inches variation In
height among the twelve, and the
comparative weights were equally