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Show HANDLING CHEAP CATTLE Generally speaking stockmen located lo-cated east of the Missouri and Mississippi Mis-sissippi rivers do not handle cheap ; grades of cattle. It is easier to sell that kind of cattle to stockmen west of the line indicated. This is a condition con-dition that does not reflect on the judgment of the stockmen of either section, for the stockmen east of this line regard it as dangerous to put low-grade cattle on high-priced land, while west of the line there is more cheap land upon which to run cheap cattle. Of course there are many exceptions. Not all the men in the western section will handle cheap cattle, and there are certain Missouri stockmen, for example, who specialize in them. A commission man recently told me that about a year ago, during the heavy fall run of cattle in 1915, two Nebraska customers gave him orders to buy feeding cattle. One wanted cheap cattle; the other wanted the best-bred kind. For the former he bought steers weighing 750 pounds at $6.10 a hundred. The other man bought cattle weighing 6 50 pounds, highly bred, and paid $7.85 a hundred hun-dred for them. Both droves were full-fed for about six months, and a part of each drove was returned to market the same day, the same commission man selling them that had bought them. The low-bred drove brought $8.25 and the other $8.40. It was not an exact comparison, for the cheap cattle cat-tle had been handled a little better than the others, though both lots were finished well enough to sell to killers. Naturally the man who had fed the well-bred cattle objected, saying the "other cattle were not in the same class as his, but the commission man declared he had tried out both lots thoroughly in making the saleSi Although Al-though the disgruntled customer shipped the remainder of his cattle to another commission man, subsequent subse-quent sales brought about the same result. It is a different matter if the cattle cat-tle are to be handled as stock cattle. The difference in value will remain as great when the cattle are returned return-ed to market as when they were bought, and the difference will remain re-main as long as the cattle remain unfinished. In the finishing process there is a possibility under certain conditions of eliminating part of the difference in value between low-bred and high-bred cattle, and there still remains the relative ability of the two grades to gain flesh rapidly while the final finish is being put on. This year the East has had plenty of rain and has raised good crops, while the West has been dry and feed is short. Therefore, there is a wider margin than usual between the best cattle and the cheaper ones, because there is a strong demand from the East for the good ones and a limited demand from fie West for the cheap cattle. Hence, this is a good season to handle the cheaper cattle, if there is anything in the contention that a part of the discrepancy discrep-ancy in value can be wiped out in the feeding process. Country Gentleman. |
