The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-17
ADDRESS OF
v. S. A Smith

-" ne. S----- ,sES
Mr.. Smith said: No thinking man
can help but see the wonderful changes
occurring in this big country and how
fast these changes come. Here we
have had, up to a few years ago, vast
breeding and grazing grounds where
free range cattle have been
produced very cheaply. Now the
free ranges are practically gone, or
are so cut up by settlers as to be
practically useless. The consequences
Of this is that the production of cheap
cattle is nearing an end; the time has
now come when it is possible and
highly probable that cattle will be pro-
duced from our higher priced lands
at a profit. Census returns show us
n a in ten years population increased
II e cent but cattle only increased
4 g cent. If this ratio continues a
few years more it is not hard TO see
what will be the results.
Here around Fargo you people are
going through the same transition
stage that other states have gone
through. Iowa grew wheat for years
and her people kept getting poorer. At
one time in this period / understand
congress voted an appropriation to
keep the people in northwestern low a
from starving. Kansas was a wheat
state, and l remember myself giving
a little twenty-five years ago. to help
e out food. Now, see where Iowa
stands and think what has been and
Is he main cause of her great pros
perity. Without a question-live-
stock. There is no state or country
known on the face of this earth where
exclusive grain raising is a success.
Swimming the cream off the land
may last a while and make the first
settlers a little money but the newt
able must come-the yield keeps get
ting less, the and foul and chemically
unfit until at last the people turn to
diversified farming and get down from
speculation to business.
My subject h~eretoday is Production
Of Feeders. The question is often
asked me which pays the best to feed,
common or good cattle? This at first
glance seems an easy question to
answer, but 1t is not. First, the term
Scrub" is vague and applies to a large
class of cattle. What is known in
stockyards parlance as knot heads
are scrub cattle, but these, being prac-
tically out OF the question as feeders,
need not be considered. This brings
us down to what are~known as plain
to common CATTLE, and the question as
to whether common pay better than
well bred steers in the feed lot is an
open one, depending largely upon
whether the common steers are bought
as such, and whether the well bred
steers really are we'll bred. Every
cattle man knows that in every bunch |
Of cattle there is always a top. If
the prospective feeder picks a lead out
Of a lot OF common cattle, he certain
ly gets a top of a kind; still he is
likely to have a very inferior lot of
cattle that were probably bought for
more h they were worth. AS a rule
they carry a little more flesh, and
this covers a multitude of sins.
Anyone who reads any of our agri-
cultural papers knows how they keep
on advocating the handling of well
bred stock. No one can put up any
against this, for we are all
aware that the well bred, broad backed
steer carries the meat where the high
priced cuts come from; still there is
just as much money made in feeding
common cattle, II they are bought as
common cattle, as there is in feeding
well bred cattle. They may not put
all the gain in the right place, and 1t
not be high priced, but the pub
lie Is now demanding cheap meat and
has to produce 1t. Further
more, at least three-fourths OF all the
and feeder cattle available are
plain to common; 1t is simply impos-
sible for everyone to feed good cattle.
AS far as the direct profit goes In feed
ing, there is always more or less spec
ulatfon, and a feeder is just as likely
get a 81 advance on q common steer
as on a good one. 1t is n of the
queer things in feeding that If one
buys 100 ommon steers, it is sur
how many decent fat steers
one gets; similarly. 1t is equally sur
how many tail-enders one Sc
cures in buying 100 good cattle. In
other words, where both classes of
cattle are available, it isn't every one
who can distinguish the good feeders
from the poor ones, and it ought to
be part OF every feeders business to
study this closely.
Good Steer Has Many ADVANTAGES.
Anyone hearing this would naturally
think that / am an advocate of the
common steer. Far from it. / am
looking at the matter from d
standpoint. II the breeder is
fool enough to raise common cattle
from common bulls and sell them for
common prices, that's his loss; il I
buy the thin frame of a two-year-
old steer, which up to that time has
been produced at a loss, that's my
profit If I can make 1t. What then
Is the benefit In feeding well bred cat
tie? First, as a rule they make larger
gains for the feed consumed, and they
make the gain where 1t counts the
most. Second, the direct profits from
feeding come from the advance
In dollars over cost, and after the cat
tie have been fed four or five months.
If the market goes wrong it is often
possible to carry good cattle longer
and come out right, while the common
cattle would a their head off. Third
bhere lis the wonderful effect the
handling OF good cattle has on the
a himself, which, although IL can
be measured In dollars and cents.
generally leads to that. No man can
make q success of his business who
does not love 1t above dollars and
cents; and when a mar likes and
handles good cattle he takes an honest
pride In them, and this pride leads upl