The Cattleman's Pages of History

The Cattleman cover showed a “Grand Champion Load of Steers at the International Exposition, Chicago.” They were fed and exhibited by E. P. Hall, Mechanicsburg, Ill., and averaged 1,090 pounds. The steers were sold to Armour & Co. at the then record price of $42.50 cwt.

➤ Arrangements were completed for Woodrow Wilson to attend the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show in March 1918. As exciting as that may sound, this Woodrow Wilson was a show Hereford, a fine example of the perseverance of Billie Whiteside, a “club boy” who raised his animals through the dreadful drought conditions of that time. The pair were held up as living proof that even during the war and Depression years, energy and will, combined with stick-to-it-iveness, would bring success.

➤ According to a preliminary report on the studies conducted at the Jornado Range Reserve in New Mexico, using controlled grazing methods improved grama grass range by 50 percent.

➤ James Callan [past president, 1909-1911 and 1916-1919] was advising his friends against hauling their stock feed through town. “Recently, a stock man stopped his wagon loaded with baled peanut hay on the streets of Menard, and while he was shopping, some of the citizens came near tearing the bales to pieces to get the peanuts to eat,” he said.

The Cattleman cover utilized a painting by A. Kelly Pruitt, titled “The Trail Boss.” The hunch-shouldered image “elicit[s] sympathy from every cowboy who has faced a chilly north wind on a cold, wintry day. It is the kind of chill which lingers long after the cowboy has gulped his first cup of hot coffee and snuggled as close to the fire as he dares.”

➤ The advice in “Cattle Outlook” was “Use restraint in ’68. Livestock and poultry men alike are being aimed at in this advice, stimulated most recently by a December Washington meeting of producer representatives and farm organization leaders.”