Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1902-10-23

| M
| Iotal. l...,................ z, 300, 600
This enormous amount Of stock will
call for large sum of money. Few
realize what it means to put that num-
ber Of cattle in the feed lot. In the
first place they will weigh on an
average around 1000 pounds, perhaps
more, as the states farther east feed
cattle that have more weight than do
the western states. They will be
worth four cents pound at least when
they go into the feed lots, or $40 per
head, which means s92, 600, 600 invested
by the farmers before they begin on
the ninety.day process OF transforming
them into beef. In addition there
must be feed racks, fences, hay and,
most important of all, corn. 1t issafe
TO say that practically all the corn
that is grown In the states of the feed
ing belt will be put into fat stock, ex-
cepting what is needed for the home
consumption.
Then there is another element to
come into the feeding industry. OF
late years it has become very profit
able to fatten sheep.
There are at this time along the line
of the Union Pacific railroad alone
over /, 600, 900 sheep that will be offered
to the feeders when the season opens.
The estimate OF the number to be fed
in the states named is as follows:
Kansas. .................... ,00O,0OV
Nebraska, ............,,....-. ..tVO,uVO
Colorado. ................s ..... .4U0,OOO
| Missouri. .,,................. .2o0,OOU
Other states farther east have only
recently begun feeding sheep, but
they will this year be large factors in
the industry and be heavy buyers on
the western markets, Colorado is
making remarkable strides in this di-
rection and is proving able to produce
the finest mutton that goes on the
market. The profits are larger every
year and with the extension Of alfalfa
growing and the raising OF sorghum
and millet the semiarid region is prov
ing equal to the task Of handling large
| tlOcks
Assistant Freight Agent Kali of
the Union Pacific says concerning the
outlook in Kansas and the surround
ing section Of the contrasting region:
considerable corn will be sold early
at about 25 cents bushel, for some
farmers need ready money. They
went shy last year. Then next look
for millions and millions of bushels OF
30-cent corn to gC into the cribs. We
are making heavy hauls Of crib plumber
already and this will continue. 1t In
dicates that the feeding will be larger
than ever. Hogs will come next and
the sheep will be turned on the fields
and the carpets of grass that were
never so fine in Kansas, and even ex-
tend far into Colorado"
1t is a curious fact that the south
has not yet entered the feeding field.
Even in northern Texas, where corn is
grown or is accessible at a low rate of
freight, there is a constant shipping
of yearlings to the northern pastures
to be grown, fattened and brought
back as dressed beef. This is true Of
the south generally. Some notable
experiments have been made TO over
come this condition. One Of the
largest was the Illinois syndicate,
which bought plantations in the
Yazoo delta of the Mississippi ten
years ago. They resolved that they
would not make this mistake. They
INTENDED to make money raising cotton
but would produce enough cattle and
hogs to supply the employees with food.
Corn would also be raised for meal.
They tried the experiment for seven
years and have now given up the at
tempt and plant corn only for fodder
and buy their meal in st. Louis, their
pork and beef in Chicago. The trou-
BILE was that the soil was too deep and
rich 10 raise the best corn. The plant
ran all TO blade and its production of
grain was small and inferior. With
the modern development in grain
breeding the difficulty might be over
come, but il is doubtful.
The southern cattle feeder meets
the same trouble. The experience Of
the past shows that the beef steer
reaches Its finest development in a
belt that runs east and west with the
Ohio river aud lies more north than
soutb OF that stream. Under ordi-
nary conditions, and without unusual
care. the beef that most people re-
card as best comes from that belt.
Perhaps 1t is in the climate and per-
hans in the corn, which is but another
wav of expressing it-certain IL is that
the most lucious porterhouse and sir
| I'm comes from cattle there fattened.
The process Of fattening, asfollowed
on the western farms, is in the direc-
tion Of rapid feeding. The proceed
ing is easy at first as the cattle and
sheen eat greedily. Then, like the
t,a,tion Of A bicycle tire, the work Is