OCR Text |
Show ! months of ago and brought a nighc lrico per pound, either when Bold as J feeders, or when finished at bis own "with the development of baby beef ! feeding, there is an even greater rea-,nn rea-,nn for improving the quality of the calf crop. Likewise, with calves dur-: dur-: in- the past year or wore, selling at ! 00 to 50.00 per head, there is eeria'iilv strong inducement to use bulls of proven progeny and of the ri-pt typo and constitution, i "cotter care of the cows lo increase Ifue percentage of the calves saved will help a lot in improving and solving solv-ing the financial condition of the rancher. The belter quality of cattle will have a more ready sale and bet-i bet-i ter beef will go a long ways toward popularizing that product with the consumer. A change in conditions just had to come about, and with this change we will ultimately find the industry as a whole on a much more substantia and profitable basis, j I r, With cattle values at the. highest peacetime levels in history, cattlemen generally are giving more serious attention at-tention to increasing the percentage and quality of their calf crops. Numbers Num-bers of range breeding cattle in every part of the West have been reduced Sufficient feed to carry animals through the entire year in good healthy condition, probably is the most important factor to consider in profitable cattle raising. Experienced Experienc-ed cattlemen know about how many cows and calves can be accommodated accommodat-ed in various sections. Where feed is sparse and water holes few and far between, good cowmen may run only one animal to twenty or thirty acres. There are other range sections where feed and water are more abundant, abun-dant, where an animal may be carried in a much smaller area. Successful cattlemen generally are disposed to insist on the use of pure bred bulls. Some successful cowmen cow-men are of the opinion that good grade bulls are just as good, yet It must be remembered that the vast improvement im-provement in the quality 0f cattle generally, increased calf crops, better constitution and quicker maturity are all the result of better breeding. It is, therefore, only natural Unit after honest consideration, it must bo admitted that the pure bred bull has been and will be an important factor in making more profitable cattle production pro-duction possible. One large western operator, who bought bulls in quantity quanti-ty lots at his own price, was getting only a 50 per cent calf crop; they were just bulls, thats all. As an ex, periment, he was induced to put some pure bred bulls into his herd and, of course, they cost more money but the result was that his calf crop increased increas-ed the first year to 70 per cent and as pure bred bulls were added Is Increased In-creased to SO per cent. Moreover, ho, like many other cowmen, found that his caJ-;is weighed more at six so that the cattle operator with a more or less fixed overhead must figure on greater gross profits in rela tion to the number of cows he is carrying. In a way, reduced numbers of breeding cattle in a greater proportion propor-tion of the range country undoubtedly undoubted-ly is a good thing for the individual cattlemen and for the industry as well, as there is no doubt but that many ranges were seriously overstocked over-stocked a few years ago. Range cattle cat-tle population has decreased, however, how-ever, as a result cf post war liquidation, liquida-tion, much of which was forced due to financial pressure; and because so many cattle outfits turned from cattle to sheep. However, there is no doubt but that there are now fewer cattle on ranges than admit of profitable operation, unless greater efficiency in breeding and calf production is attained. at-tained. Understocked ranges mean that the reduced breeding herds are able to have more feed, and therefore, the cows should have greater constitution constitu-tion and better vigor to successfully produce and rear their calves. There is no doubt but that it would take several years before the cattle population popu-lation has reached the happy medium, where there is still ample feed in normal years, yet enough breeding slock to supply the consumer demand for beef. |