Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-10-28
Beef Breeds Of Cattle.

The short beef supply has attracted
the attention of farmers to cattle, and
it lis possible that from now on the
number of cattle will increase, es-
pecially in the East. There is a heavy
demand abroad for American cattle,
and no doubt it will soon be possible,
with the cold storage system TO send
dressed beef to any quarter of the
world. In fact, Australia already
sends frozen mutton to England and
finds ready market During times
of war there is always good demand
for beef, but as the cattle ranges
are being reduced by settlers the sup
ply of beef dlmlnishes, and sooner or
later the production of beef must be
done on the farms in which case East
ern farmers will be able to compete
with beef producers of the West.
There is, however, a sufficlency of
cattle on Eastern farms already and
inspection would demonstrate that
Eastern farms are as well stocked as
those in the West, but, as the East has
tue advantage of location and mark
cts, the breeds Of cattle used are those
desired for milk and butter production
and even in the West the creamery is
a fixed institution, the bulk of the
beef cattle coming from far beyond the
Mississippi The result is that there
is more competition on individual
farms in the production of milk and
butter than of beef, but just as soon
as the tide of prices turn in favor of
beef there will he a change (or par
tial one) in the breeds of cattle used
and farmers will give more attention
to producing beef, because it will pay
them to do so.
KEEPING THE CALVES.
There is a possibility of farmers
succeeding with beef production with
out the necessity of sacrificing their
milk and butter breeds AT present
the calves on dairy farms are sold at
an early age, and the majority of the
farmers go on the market and buy
their dairy cows, in so doing also fail
ing to have good stock of any kind.
The temptation offered by better prices
willin duce them to retain their calves
and endeavor to improve with bulls of
the beef breeds-Herefords, Short
horns, Galloways and Angus-which
will give them half bred calves, but
the heifer calves If retained for the
dairy, may not give satisfactory re-
suits The matter comes down to one
point-that of saving calves. Well
bred calves of the beef breeds some
| times reach the market when they are
2 years old, and three years is con-
sidered ample time to turn out good
animal in the market for beef. Some
cattle have been known to average a
gain of pounds or more per day from
| birth to market; that is, steers 6S2
days old have weighed 1864 pounds
Three-year-old steers have made a
gain of 1.60 pounds per day during
life, and when dressed would average
two-third5 of their live weight. Farm
ers who use grades may not accomp-
| lish such results, but they show the
difference between breeding for pur-
pose and using all sorts of animals
looking to the future for development
Unfortunately for the dairy farmers
who expect to depend solely upor
milk AMI butter, they already have
cows that are more prone 10 produce
beef than milk.
WILL ENCOURAGE IMPROVE
MENT.
The scarcity of beef will be produc
tive of good results in the end. Jus
as the low price of wool forced th'