164 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Though Michigan now ranks eighteenth among the states and terri- 

 tories in numbers of live stock, it is not expected that she will ever 

 rank among the first, because of the great diversity of her interests, 

 such as agriculture, horticulture, lumbering, mining, manufacturing, 

 marine, etc. That state possessed of the greatest live stock valuations is 

 a strictly agricultural state, and probably possesses a higher per cent of 

 tillable land than any other, while Michigan possesses a large area of 

 nontillable land. We do not need greater numbers of cattle so much 

 as we need better ones. 



A GLIMPSE AT SOME PRECEDING CONDITIONS. 



Some interesting features are presented in a brief review of the his- 

 tory of the development of the live stock industry in Michigan. It has 

 not been rapid as in some of the states to the westward which went into 

 the live stock business a few decades later, and which have now far 

 outstripped us as regards numbers of cattle. But the natural condi- 

 tions, as the pioneer found them in Michigan, were not suited to the 

 rapid development of the stock business. He had to produce the proper 

 conditions. The first settlers found nearly all the surface of Michigan 

 covered with heavy timber. As in all forest regions, the forage of 

 Michigan was scant in quantity, and lacking in nutrition for live stock. 

 The coarse herbage which grew in the marshes and along the lake 

 borders was little or no better than that which grew under the trees. 

 The land had to be cleared before forage and fodder crops could be 

 produced. As in all timbered sections, the settler had no desire to own 

 more cattle than were required to supply the immediate needs of his 

 family ; he was loth to feed to live stock the cereals which were produced 

 on lands requiring so much labor in the clearing and cultivation. On 

 the other hand, the prairies of the states to the south and westward, 

 covered with an abundance of nutritious pasturage, awaited the coming 

 of the plow of the pioneer, and immediately produced an abundance of 

 grain and forage to supplement the rich natural pastures, thereby mak- 

 ing possible the rapid development of the live stock industry. During 

 the earlier history of this state the energies of the farmer were diverted 

 to other lines of work than live stock production. In general, we find in 

 the history of any new country, that far more attention is given to crop 

 production, for a long interval, than to animal production. This has 

 been particularly true of the eastern and central states, while the re- 

 verse was true of the far west. The pioneer brought with him a very 

 limited live stock equipment, consisting of work horses or oxen, one or 

 more cows to furnish milk and butter for the family, and a few pigs to 

 furnish a large portion of the year's supply of meat. The first business 

 of the pioneer was to unlock the rich storehouse of fertility found in 

 the virgin soil. The doors of this storehouse were exceedingly ponder- 

 ous, consisting as they did of oak, maple, beech, elm or pine, according 

 to the conditions, firmly imbedded in the soil by tenacious roots. The 

 finances of the pioneer were such that he must needs produce cash crops 

 to supply his pressing needs and add better facilities to his meagre 

 equipment. The rich virgin soil responded freely at first, yielding pro- 

 lific crops of a variety of cereals possessed of high commercial value. 

 Finally, however, the land became less and less productive; each sue- 



