Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-03-15

dom find good quality in plain bred
steer and we generally find it in the
well bred, high grade animal. The
ldesirability of general quality can
not be too strongly emphasized.
While it is a characteristic that in
wolves many points and is difficult to
describe, its presence or absence is
quickly discerned by the trained eye
of the intelligent buyer. 1t is this
characteristic in the stockers and
feeders more than any other that we
depend upon as indicating that the
animal has within it the possibility of
making a market topper or at the
rate a prime Steer.
The ability TO select stockers and
feeders which have within them the
possibility of making prime steers is
one of the first and most important
| lessons for the stockman to learn.
Profits in steer-feeders come not
so much from skill in feeding and
management as from intelligent buy
ing and selling. The profit resulting
from an increase during the fatten-
ing period. of the value per pound
of the total weight of the animal is
as important as that resulting from
the method employed in the feeding
and management. It is seldom pos
sible to produce at profit gains which
do not increase the value per pound
of the total weight of the animal.
Hence the importance of intelligent
buying. or the selection of feeders
and stocllers of good quality.
OBJ Handling quality. Good handling
quality indicates that the possessor
is a good feeder. 1t shows that the
animal is in good health or thrift
and capable of beginning to gain as
soon as an abundance of food is sup
piled. We speak of cattle as possess
ing gooG handling quality when the
skin is mellow and loose. y thick,
messy coat of hair of medium fine
ness and a moderately thick skin are
also desirable.
;. Constitution-The points indfca-
tive of a good constitution have prac-
ticaHv been covered under l. Form
Good constitution IS Indicated by Il
wide. deep chest. by fulmess in the
heart-girth, depth and breadth OF
body. and good handling quality.
While. as we have said above, we
want refine ment of form and bone,
otherwise spoken of as general quail
itv. we do not want that refinement
carried to the point of dclicacy in
the animal. Too much refinement
means delicacy or lack of constitu-
ton and no animal lacking IN constl-
tuition shoIld find its way into the
feed lot The desirable character
istics of beef form, quality and con-
stitution should be found in well-bred
hiph grades of any Cf the leading
beef breeds. In the interest of uni
formity in the finished product it
ought TO be observed that high grade
Herefor,Is can usually he put on the
market in the fewest number of days
and suffer most from carrying beyond
the point of ripeness; that short
horns and Aberdeen Angus grades
while a little slower to mature are
i'm fully as strong demand i'm the mar
ket as are grade Hcrefords; and that
Aberdeen Angus and Galloways may
be carried longer on full feed than
other breeds of beef cattle, without
indications of lunches or rolls of fat
which are so strongly Disseminated
against in our markets.
After all that may be said, how
ever. rs to breed, the important CON
sideration is 10 see that the steer
should bc a high grade of some one
of the beef breeds and that the Sc
lection of the individual should re
ccive more attention than the sclec-
ton of the breed.
Herbert w. Mumford,
1
of /.