Looking Back: 100 years Ago

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society
 
Since my recent move to the southside (of Grain Valley), I learned that my home is in the Shorthorn Addition, Phase III. My father would be proud!
 
My reflections on my paternal grandparents move to Grain Valley, specifically to a job as manager of Sni-A-Bar Farms, caused me to peruse some memorabilia I have kept, including the “United States Department of Agriculture, Circular No. 74”.
 
Here are some excerpts from the demonstration days of 1924, the fourth year of the “Grading Up of Beef Cattle at Sni-A-Bar Farms”. I realize I have written about the demonstrations in previous articles, so please indulge me the pleasure of a good memory from Circular No. 74.
 
“The cattle-breeding demonstration here described shows the results of grading up a herd of native cows with purebred beef bulls. The plan was the conception of the late W. R. Nelson, a lover of good livestock who believed that systematically  breeding with properly chosen purebred  sires would quickly improve common herds and eliminate economic waste. He purchased 1,755 acres of fertile land in Sni-A-Bar Township, Jackson County, Mo., on which the work was begun and is still being conducted. The tract comprises two farms, one of which is devoted chiefly to the production of the purebred sires used in the work and the other to the operation of grading up the main herd. Each farm has its own superintendent but the two properties adjoin and are under one general management. Together they are known as Sni-A-Bar Farms and, for the purpose of the work discussed, may be considered as a unit. The farms are in a picturesque setting about 26 miles east of Kansas City.
 
Mr. Nelson purchased the land in 1912 and the following year selected 200 “common red cows” at the Kansas City Stock yard where they had been shipped for slaughter. They were the foundation female stock for his breeding operation. They were of fair to good quality, judged from a market standpoint and they were of good size. He chose those showing evidence of Shorthorn breeding and also of being reasonably good milkers. They were from 4 to 5 years old, most of them with calf and dry; a few had calves at side. This basis for selection insured having animals that would breed. The sires were registered purebred Shorthorns. ”
 
Mr. Nelson was 71 years old when he acquired Sni-A-Bar and he completed the selection of the foundation stock only a few months before his death in 1915. According to his will, the breeding operations were to continue for 30 years from the time of his death. It was first carried on by his daughter, Mrs. Laura Nelson Kirkwood until her death in February, 1926. After that, trustees were appointed by the presidents of the Universities of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

1924 Sni-A-Bar Demonstration
 
10,000 to 15,000 people from all parts of North America attended the Sni-A-Bar demonstration each October.  The crossed cattle were used to demonstrate the improvement in the breeds and statistics were used to cite the added profit to the cattle raiser over the raising of grade or “scrub” cattle.

​Both the USDA and the University of Missouri took part in some of the demonstrations on the farm, Sni-A-Bar furnishing the cattle and feed for the experiments, the government agents on the farm conducting the tests, and the university preparing the data. According to many, the farms was one of the greatest single contributions ever made to the cattle industry.