This bulletin is a part of a larger and broader study which attempts to explain the economic forces and conditions which have caused the development of the present types of farming in Iowa, and their location under the particular conditions where they are found. A study of this sort is not intended to be, and should not be, purely analytical. It should trace the development of the present forms of farm organization, and should proceed to point out lessons to be drawn from their development for the guidance of the practical farmer.

Such a study cannot stop at an examination of the present system alone. Our present economic institutions are rooted deeply in the past. Our present economic environment would not be what it is had it not passed thru the specific course of development that has gone before. For this reason a brief historical sketch of the development of the beef cattle industry is presented.