Grazing in America.

Patea Mail, 31 August 1880, Page 3

Grazing in America.

During summer and autumn large numbers of cattle arc driven, grazing by the way", to the depots, on the great trunk linos of railway" that pass eastward. ' Express cattle trains arc laid on, which stop every" 12 or 15 hours for feeding, watering, and resting the animals. They are mostly" consigned to Chicago, Kansas City", St. Louis, or the Atlantic ports. The railway charges arc moderate. From Chey'enne, a great cattle depot in Western Nebraska, the rate per head, 1,000 miles to Chicago, is 28s. From Chicago to New York, 1)00 miles, the rate is 16s. The total charges, however, on a bullock, from the day" that it leaves its native pasture in the west till it reaches the hands of the English consumer, are very heavy. The total charges of transport of a beast, say from NorthEastern Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana, over 2,000 miles of land and 3,000 of ocean, and landing him in Great Britain, would thus amount to £lO or £l2. Presuming that ho weighs 12001b, this would he fully" 2d per lb on his gross weight, or 4d on his carcase of beef. But 12001b is a heavy bullock, and of course the expense per lb on a lighter animal would be proportionately" greater. Thousands of cattle arc brought from the western grazing land every autumn, and

fattened off in the great corn-grow-ing regions of Illinois, Wisconsin, lowa' Minnesota, and Missouri. The corn with which they arc fed costs about Is a bushel and bran 20s, and liny 10s per ton. A large bullock in forward store condition is considered to eat half a bushel of grain daily. Sometimes the smaller farmers take cattle in to feed, receiving about Id per lb on the increased weight when the cattle are scaled out in the spring. It is usual in America to buy cattle, sheep and pigs by live weight. At every loadingdepot, and at all markets, and also on the farms, Fairbanks scales are used, on which from one to 40 animals can be weighed* Corn-fed cattle consigned to the eastern markets yield oGlbs to GBlbs of beef lor every' lOOlhs of live weight. About 2000 carcases, weighing usually 8001b each, arq now sent every" week to British markets* The sensitiveness of the British market ’s a great check on the fresh meat trade. An over supply of even a few hundred carcases lias the effect of running down the price Id and 2d a pound. .Superior American beef sold in Liverpool at 4ld, and the .same thing occurs with the Metropolitan market. Tin's ready glutting of the British meat market, and conscquent'scrious depreciation of value, is the British farmer’s best protection.