The Newtown bee., 1894-08-10
Affairs About Town. DOES IT PAY TO FAT CATTLE?
| A PAPER READ BEFORE POHTATUCK
 GRANGE BY WALTER H. GLoYER.1

The subject in hand is, is the fattening of cattle for market profitable in this To- cality as against dairying? As you all know, am not a professor from Yale college, and you need not expect any high flown language. I suppose our worthy lecturer expects me to discuss the fattening of cattle, as am green at dairying. At the present time I am afraid it will be like the COW against 100 hens, on the wrong side q was for the cow), but my motto is, "have good pluck and never say die" The only way I can discuss the subject to make it profit. able, is to give you my experience for the last 20 years, and average it. I will not go back to war times, only for one sale. remember buying pair of stags in the spring of the year, said to be 21 years old, for S75, and sold them in the fall for $500. What propose to give is my own experience without stretching the truth. Twenty years ago I con- menced fattening cattle on my own hook. I used to go to Buffalo in March or April anG get a car load of cattle, 24 head, and sell them in October or November, and make from $50 to $35 head. kept that up for five years. Then cattle com- menced to come high in the spring, and l concluded to buy in the fall and winter them. I used to generally buy in Octo- Der and keep them about one year. It would not be any trouble at all to make about five years. That brings it down to the last 10 years. If I could leave that out I think I could balance with the dairying business. But fattening cattle for profit has been on the decline for the last 10 years. If you buy your cattle in the spring of the year now, you must be shrewd and smart to get S10 head prof. it, but by buying in the fall, and winter. ing them, and, selling in July or August you can make from S25 to $50 head Why this decline? suppose it could be answered in a few words, the big fishe: eat up the little ones. Yet, there arc several reasons for this decline. We might say that cattle cost more to starr with. Or they do not do as we'll as they used to on account of feed. The Texan fly, which we have not had till the last three or four years, and several other excuses. But my theory is, we do not or cannot keep our cattle long enough or till they are ripe, to make up for this decline. Some will say, why not keeI them? Now I will have to go back 1( years. Then we used to get as much pel pound for beef in Newtown any time o. the year. Ten years ago this fall one O. the oldest refrigerator beef companie: told me that Newtown people might a! well give up fattening cattle and go into the milk business or something else. asked. why? I was told, because thi: Chicago dressed beef is going to run yot all out. said I guess not as long as th' grass grows. I have fatted cattle since and got living. don't know how long it will last. As a general theory WI Eastern people cannot fatten cattle ol grain to compete with the West, witt grain here worth double what it is there and consequently do not get our cattl, prime till fall. Now the Eastern refrig orator companies know what time we art ready to sell our cattle and they notify the Western refrigerator companies, ant they propose to let the Eastern compa nies sell the beef at cost through thu months of October and November, t. discourage fattening cattle in the East I can prove this assertion by one of tn oldest companies in Bridgeport. Las November they told me they had sol' Chicago dressed beef for the last tw
 months that did not make the compan, a cent. And consequently for the las few years we have had to sell our cattl in July or August, when they weigl light. Then we have to compete witt Chicago dressed beef. What is Chicag dressed beef composed of in our Easter
 markets. It is composed of anything i
 the shape of beef, old cows, stags, di: eased cattle, with their heads and leg off, embalmed and whitened up to loo
 nice, and kept three weeks to make tner tender. Perhaps you may think l ar stretching the truth when say this. Bu it is fact. have been told by person
 who have seen it embalmed. And fo another instance. Take quarter of ou home dressed beef and hang it by the sid ? of Chicago dressed beef. Chicago dress ed beef will look one-third larger tha
 home dressed beef, and yet it will nc
 weigh as much. Their embalming pro
 cess whitens and makes it spongy an
 when exposed to the air it turns blacl
 And in conclusion, what is the remed
 for the decline in our Eastern beef ma
 ket? Why it is simply this. That a
 the farmers and grangers go on stril
 and do not eat any more Chicago dresse
 beef.