Beef cattle

“ The most important results of man's agency in improving cattle by breeding, care, and management have been a tendency of the animals to mature at an earlier age, and readily to lay on flesh and fat, and an increase of the milk-production far beyond the needs of the calf, and prolongation of the natural period of milk-flow. At the present time the various recognized breeds of domestic cattle may be classified in a general way as beef cattle and dairy cattle. ”

“ Grass fed beef is esteemed as superior to that of winter fed animals fattened upon turnips, oil-cake and other artificial foods. The best beef is red in colour and marbled or mottled, with fat finely intermingled with the lean. The hindquarters of cattle are superior to the fore-quarters, and in fact, necks, shoulders and "crops" of beef are never seen on the best tables, but are sold by contract to shippers, etc., at a low price. The hind-quarters contain the ribs, the sirloins, the rumps, the buttocks, and the "rounds." ”

“ The truth is that mountain beef, being fed nothing but grass and browse, with barely enough corn and roughage to keep the animal alive through winter, is blue-fleshed, watery, and tough. If properly reared, the quality would be as good as any. Almost any of our farmers could have had a pasture near home and could have grown hay, but not one in ten would take the trouble. His cattle were only for export—let the buyer fatten them! It should be understood that nobody had any provision for taking care of fresh meat when the weather was not frosty. ”

“ In the year 1910 there were ninety-six million six hundred and fifty-eight thousand cattle in the United States. This means that there was one for every human being in the whole country. But the number of beef-cattle is decreasing, as the larger ranches where they graze are disappearing, as we have said, and are being divided into small farms. ”

“ It would be interesting to take up each separate breed of cattle and trace its source, giving credit to the men who improved and developed it, and the date of each importation; but the limitations of this article forbid anything more than brief mention of the more prominent breeds, and many which possess great merit cannot be even mentioned. The improved cattle of the United States may be grouped under three heads—beef, dairy, and general purpose. ”

“ We want cattle for distinct purposes, as for milk, beef, or labor. In a large majority of cases—especially in the dairy districts, at least, comprising the Eastern and Middle States—the farmer cares more for the milking qualities of his cows, especially for the quantity they give, than for their fitness for grazing, or aptness to fatten. These latter points become more important in the Western and some of the Southern States, where much greater attention is paid to breeding and to feeding, and where comparatively slight attention is given to the productions of the dairy. ”

“ The promoters of the Abilene market had flooded Texas with advertising matter during the winter, urging that only choice cattle should be driven, yet the information was of little value where local customs classified all live stock. A beef was a beef, whether he weighed eight or twelve hundred pounds, a cow was a cow when over three years old, and so on to the end of the chapter. From a purely selfish motive of wanting strong cattle for the trip, I suggested that nothing under three-year-olds should be used in making up the herd, a preference to be given matured beeves. ”

“ Two men were detailed to hold the round-up compactly, Dell volunteered to watch the cut (the beeves selected) , leaving the other three to cut out the marketable cattle which would make up the shipment. A short hour's work followed, resulting in eighty-odd beeves being selected. Flesh, age, and the brand governed each selection, and when cut into a class by themselves, the mettle of the pasture was reflected in every beef. ”

“ An increased proportion of trashy, light-weight cattle indicated that producers were anxious to liquidate surplus holdings before stormy weather sets in, while a corresponding decrease in receipts of corn-feds suggested a decreased number of well-conditioned beef cattle in feeders’ hands. ”

“ Now from the first day we worked the range, we cut out some steers fat enough for beef, and those cattle were under constant herd night and day, and the men were supposed to handle those cattle so they would gain in flesh while we were holding them—and any cowboy caught running or roping those steers was fired at once—and great care was taken to keep the cattle from stampeding. When we got all through we would have 2,000 or 2,500 head of cattle in the herd. ”

“ The beef type of animals is rectangular in outline, low, broad, deep, smooth, and even—no wedge-shape or sharp protruding spinal column is wanted for the block. According to Curtis, “Broad, well-covered backs and ribs are absolutely necessary to a good carcass of beef, and no other excellences will compensate for the lack of this essential. It is necessary to both breed and feed for thickness in these parts. ”

“ The color of the cow is the result of a condition. The red cow has been better suited to a farmer’s conditions and requirements. Dairy cattle can not rough it like beef or dual-purpose cattle. Where the custom is to stable feed and give good care to cattle, dairy breeds naturally take the lead. Where the dairy business is a side issue, and besides giving milk a cow is expected to face cold winds and to withstand periods of semi-starvation, the dairy type is not in it. ”

“ British cattle stand pre-eminent in the world at the present time for beauty of form, aptitude to fatten, earliness of maturity, and milking properties. All our races do not possess these aptitudes in the same degree, but they are represented in all. Our cattle are usually classified as milking and dairy breeds, and beef producers, although both classes yield milk and beef. In Europe a third class is usually recognized, distinguished as draught cattle, but horses have almost entirely superseded working oxen in Great Britain. ”

“ In the propagation of domestic cattle, the doctor has been particularly successful. Ten years ago a few head of neat cattle were brought to the fort by some fur traders from California; these have now increased to near seven hundred. They are a large framed, long horned breed, inferior in their milch qualities to those of the United States, but the [299] beef is excellent, and in consequence of the mildness of the climate, it is never necessary to provide them with fodder during the winter, an abundant supply of excellent pasture being always found. ”

“ Cattle are no longer fed until they are three or four years old before being sent to the butcher, and it has been found that they can be made to yield an equal quantity of beef of better quality at eighteen months to two years. ”

“ In much of the West and South, beef alone is the principal object; while the dairy is neglected, and the work of the ox is seldom relied on, except for occasional drudgery.
Sheep may be wanted almost exclusively for the fleece, or for the fleece and heavy mutton, or in the neighborhood of markets, for large early lambs. The pastures and winter food, climate, and other conditions, present additional circumstances, which should be well considered before determining on the particular breed, either of cattle or sheep, that will best promote the interest of the farmer. ”

“ But Short-horns have been so generally bred for beef qualities that the demand for them is almost exclusively on that line, and they are no longer classed as dairy cattle. Ayrshires from Scotland, Holstein-Friesians from North Holland, and Jerseys and Guernseys from the Channel Islands, are the breeds recognized as of dairy excellence, and upon which the industry mainly depends for improvement of its milch cows. ”

“ You think beef cattle will be different, but black-leg gets into a herd of beef cattle just as readily as into the cows and calves, and frosted corn is a liability Kansas farmers always have hanging over a crop. ”

“ It is these favorable characteristics which have gained such an excellent, and widespread reputation for the Aberdeen-Angus cattle. The growing belief that the best breed of beeves is the one that for a given quantity of food, and in the shortest time will produce the greatest weight of nutritious food combined with the smallest amount of bone, tallow, and other waste is going to make these cattle as popular with our beef consumers and producers generally as they have been with those who have long been familiar with their many superior qualities.
Grass for Hogs. ”

“ The Government is authority for the statement that the economical production of beef is the calf, taken at weaning time, not allowed to go back, but kept coming in the matter of feeding, and if this calf is to be taken at that age, you can run twenty per cent more cows on your range, producing an average of fifteen per cent more calves, as against developing a steer to the three or four year old period, in which his individual gain is your revenue in the matter of a carrying charge. ”

“ In the matter of the cows, there has been no culling, added to which there has been in-breeding, and on both the sire and dam side following out the law that evil qualities intensify in posterity, the tendency has been down instead of up in the breeding of native cattle for forty years, to which the only relief has been a very limited introduction of the beef strains. ”

“ In sections where the climate is moist, and the food abundant and rich, some families of the short horns may be valuable for the dairy; but they are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in sections where they have attained the highest perfection of form and beauty, so little is thought of their milking qualities that they are often not milked at all, the calf being allowed to run with the dam. ”

“ They die badly as to internal fat, and are generally light on the fore-rib. I have always given a preference to aged cattle, as they get sooner fat, are deep on the fore-rib, and require less cake to finish them. Aged cattle, however, are now difficult to be had, and every year they will be scarcer with the present demand for beef. A perfect breeding or feeding animal should have a fine expression of countenance—I could point it out, but it is difficult to describe upon paper. ”

“ If we except the manure of young stock, the calf is the first product of the cow, and as such demands our attention, whether it is to be [169] raised or hurried off to the shambles. The practice adopted in raising calves differs widely in different sections of the country, being governed very much by local circumstances, as the vicinity of a milk-market, the value of milk for the dairy, the object of breeding, whether mainly for beef, for work, or for the dairy, etc. ”

“ The Western dressed-beef men will also have to be on their mettle in order to meet the exigencies of the times. Let them keep their wild prairie cattle and their scalawags out of the better markets, handle their beef carefully, keep it subjected to a uniform temperature of about 38° Fahrenheit, discard all artificial preservative means, and all opponents to their interests will be bereft of argument. ”

“ Throughout other parts bullocks are fed on pasture land, and also in stables on nourishing and succulent feed such as hay, Indian corn fodder, Indian corn silage, turnips, carrots, mangels, ground oats, barley, peas, Indian corn, rye, bran and linseed oil cake. The breeding of cattle, adapted for the production of prime beef and of dairy cows for the production of milk, butter and cheese, has received much attention. There is government control of the spaces on the steamships in which the cattle are carried, and veterinary inspection prevents the exportation of diseased animals. ”

“ The day of nondescript cattle of inferior quality is rapidly passing. Through breeding, they are being steadily supplanted by higher grade, perfectly developed animals which yield the proper proportions of lean and fat, whose meat is tender, nutritious and palatable.
The Old World breeds have been improved and perfected, through the skill of the American grower, until American stock has become the standard of the whole world, from the standpoint of excellence in every particular. ”

“ I want to tell you that the cattle interests in that city are aroused. Why, our secretary showed me the figures from his books; and in the ‘Tin Cup’ brand alone we shipped out three hundred and twelve beeves short, out of twenty-nine hundred and ninety-six bought two years ago. My employers, Mr. Seigerman, are practical cowmen, and they know that those steers never left the range without help. Nothing but lead or Texas fever can kill a beef. We haven’t had a case of fever on our range for years, nor a winter in five years that would kill an old cow. ”

“ Beef intended for delivery at this post must arrive here with sufficient flesh to withstand the rigors of our winter. When possible to secure them, we prefer Northern wintered cattle, but if they are not available, and we are compelled to receive Southern ones, they must be of the first quality in conformation and flesh. It now becomes my duty to say to you that your beeves are rough, have been over-driven, are tender-footed and otherwise abused, and, having in view the best interests of the service, with the concurrence of my associates, I decline them. ”

“ Good beef is largely obtained from the cattle ranges of the West, but there is no reason why cattle should not be raised to greater extent in the East. Sheep for mutton are best raised where the climate is not too severe. Methods of slaughter, transportation, and preservation210 all affect the quality of beef. The pure food laws and Federal meat inspection law are valuable to the consumer in their control of the quality of the meat, that it shall be free from disease and from adulterations. See Chapter XVII for the discussion of preservatives and pure food laws.
Fig. 58.—Cuts of Beef. ”