The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-12-16
The Business Is Now in a
State of General
Transition.
WESTERN METHODS ARE BEING
ADOPTED AND FLORIDA CAT
TIE MEN ARE PREPARING TO
COMPETE WITH THE WORLD IN
GENERAL.
z. c. ChambIiss.


The subject which you have asked
me to write upon, Cattle" began to
be discussed in America in the year
1924, upon the landing of the good
ship, Charity" which brought over
from England a bull and three heifers.
But l presume that you want only
present day conditions Of the industry,
as related to the state of Florida.
The advent of turpentine manufac-
turers, and the collection Of large
bodies of land in the hands of a few
owners, in connection with other
causes, has placed old-time methods of
handling cattle on open range, and the
cattle business in general, In stage
of transition The other causes are,
the prospect that Cuba, heretofore the
largest outlet for Florida cattle, will
soon be supplied from her own fine
ranges. and that Floridians themselves
will not eat ordinarily home raised
beef. Seeing that turpentine men
cared only for timber, the more far,
sighted range men began the purchase
of their own lands; and have fenced
or will fence, pastures of their own.
This gave a cue to the naval stores
men, and some of them are preparing
to enter cattle-raising when their tim
Der is gone. The local market men,
having given home folks the taste of
velvet bean fed steers; they now re-
fuse to buy those unfed. The conse-
quent sharp demand for this class of
beef put many natives on feed. and
while it makes their meat good, the
process is expensive. because the fat
does not distribute through the lean,
but forms In large Jumps inside and
outside the carcass and must be cut
off by the retail butcher and sold for
tallow at four cents per pound, or, as
is often the case is much of 1t palmed
off on the housewife who pays for it
at the price of beef Butchers called
upon feeders to distribute this fat
into the lean. where it would make the
lean meat tender and richer.
Scrubs Cannot Compete.
As the steer is the machine which
manufactures grass and beans into
meat, feeders began to inquire how to
get a better machine. Western beef
a few years ago was much better in
quality than that now sold in Florida.
seemed to fill the limit, every demand
except the price. and the knowledge
that it was "embalmed' much the
same as dead people are embalmed.
Floridians then Travelled the great west
in order to learn what machines are
used there. They found all expressed
in three words, Shorthorn, Hereford,
! Angus. Some of these were immedi-
ately transferred to Florida, and have
| proved already that our grass and
i beans manufactured them into beef,
and that in a dollars and cents way
our butchers will encourage progress
sive ranchers to buy good blood. In
a speech before the Southern Stock
Growers Association in January. 1905,
Mr.. P. F. Conway, formerly manager
lin Jacksonville for Armour & Co., (noW
president Of the Florida Packing Co.,
of Jacksonville), said: "The scrub
Icattle CAN be brought up to the stan
dard that will make them competitors
of the western cattle consumed In
Florida and the south. We need moth
ing more to demonstrate that to our en-
tire satisfaction than to fully consider
the carcass before you We slaugh,
tered this animal. and ! am here to
say that it is a splendid piece of meat
1t grades above the average of beet
being shipped here from Fort Worth
by the packers, and is at once a direct
competitor of the western product"
(The steer referred to was born and
raised in Marion county, sired by 9
registered Shorth0rn bull, out of hall
breed scrub cow. and he weighed G6g
pounds gross, AIS pounds net, dressine
81 per cent of live weight, and sell
ing at 6 1-2 cents. with hide and tallow
for S32.42. killed at one year and seven
DAYS old after feeding two months and
twelve days on velvet beans).
Follow Western Methods.
The finest kind cf modern looms
will not make cloth without cotton
fax or silk, nor will GoOd blood malIC
good meat without grass for breeding
cattle and good feed for beef cattle
Wind and water have their place but
they cannot be depended upon without
good range. Neither do figs grow OF
thistles. No matter how much gras!