Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-03-16
g. .3OO Montana Steers bs lay z Ms Ss%y ny o ay O.
W wv 0S~OAO Charles Miller to Butte Packing w
il Corna $780, HuhelH Highest Peace TmeP rx for BemsnB Butte Market That Time j
(Rv CHARLES w. TOWNE,


EATTENED on Big Hole Basin hay,
driven 65 miles from the home ranch
4 to Divide, pronounced by the chair
man of the Montana Livestock Sanitary
board and a veteran stock inspector as
"the finest cattle they had ever seen"
the ownership of 300 ton steers changed
hands recently when Charles E. Miller
slowed away in an inside pocket a bank
draft for $50. 386.87 from the Hansen
Packing company of Butte, buyers of
these superb animals. from Mr.. Miller's
U-U ranch, eight miles south of Wis
dom.
The transaction is unique in two ways.
First, 1t is the highest peace-time price
$3.50 per Observation-Disclosures paid for
Montana cattle to that time; second, 1t
proves beyond contradiction that grass
fattened beef stock from the Big Hole are
the equal OF any corn-fed steers in the
country.
The ttoal weight of these 800 three
year-old steers, born, raised and finished
by a Montana stock grower n sold to
a Montana packing plant, was 427.095
pounds, making the individual average
weight 1923 2-3 pounds and an average
price per animal of S17795.
There were four participants at d.
vide. James Dodd. representing the Ham
sen Packing company, was there to check
the weights and determine the amount
Tue the producer: Mr.. Miller. owner of
the cattle and one Of the most successful
and energetic stock growers In the state;
Jack Collins. veteran Montana stock in
spector, who inspected brands, and be-
cause of the unusual quality and high
price paid, DR.. w. j. Butler, chairman Of
the Montana Livestock Sanitary board,
n state veterinarian, was also on hand.
DIR. Buffers appraisal of the Miller
steers is of special significance since his
official duties necessitate his inspection
of fully 100, 900 cattle a year.
I'm all my experience" said DR.. But
Ter, II never before saw as many good
cattle in one large shipment. 1t was
certainly an exceptionally smooth bunch
of steers. And yet they are only typical
of what the Big Hole country can pro-
duce continually when fed on the in
comparable grasses of hat region. If
these steers were exhibited in Chicago,
st. Paul, or Omaha, they would certainly
be identified by the average spectator as
orn-fe beef. Their condition is proof
of the fact that In the Big Hole basin
and in Montana generally, we have not
only a stock-producing, but a stock
finishing country. From the 80 varieties
of grass grown in the Big Hole, cattle are
provided with a uniformly balanced diet
and the result is q quantity and O quail
ity OF edible beef in no respect inferior
to that of grain-fattened stock.
II want to point out, too, that these
cattle were finished on a plateau, $500
feet high, in the dead of winter. / also
want to point out that this fattening
of cattle in the Big Hole is full Of sig
nificance for stockgrowers in other parts
of the state. For, If Big Hole cattle can
be brought to this condition on hay
alone, think of what the stockgroWers in
the grain-growing sections can do. II we
can breed cattle in Montana, why can't
we finish them on the barley, corn or