EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 381 



we were allowing ten acres of land, the value of that land was estimated 

 at approximately $15 per acre. I went down into southern Texas, where 

 they allowed forty acrea| of land to graze an animal, and found that 

 their investment in the acreage necessary to graze an animal was ap- 

 proximately the same. In Montana, on my return trip, I found that they 

 were allowing twelve and one-half acres in that particular section of the 

 state where I made inquiry, and they valued that land at $12 per acre. 



At the present time, the beef cattle industry seems to be based upon 

 approximately $150 valuation in the grazing land that is necessary to 

 carry an animal thru the grazing season. If the grazing land in your 

 state is worth more than that, it simply means that in the production 

 of beef-producing animals you are either competing at an unfair ad- 

 vantage, or you have another advantage in producing other crops more 

 economically for wintering purposes than can be done in those sections 

 where grazing is the main industry. But we all assume that, regard- 

 less of present conditions, as our population increases and our country 

 develops, it will be necessary for us to increase the production of live 

 stock proportio"hately, or at any rate, in some proportion. There are 

 other ways in which we will have to do it than by maintaining as large 

 an area of our land in grass, and that will come to a very large extent 

 from supplementing our pastures thru those seasons of the year when 

 we are apt to have a very great deficiency in the food supply. 



We find, for instance, on our college farm, where we are grazing 

 about 1,000 head of live stock, that we can reduce the acreage per head 

 at least one-half one year with another, as compared with the average 

 in the state, by providing supplementary feeds for the various short 

 periods of the year when we are apt to be affected by absence of rain- 

 fall, and that is a condition which can be utilized to a very large extent 

 in practically any other section of the country. The seasons are not 

 all alike, but as our grazing industry is managed today, wei have to 

 allow, as a general rule, under practical conditions, a sufficient amount 

 of land to take care of our cattle regardless of weather conditions or 

 anything else. So that by being able to supplement our pastures thru 

 a very short period of time, we are able to reduce the acreage per head, 

 and to reduce the interest on the investment in land necessary to carry 

 our animals thru the grazing season. 



We have also another problem which is confronting our Kansas cat- 

 tlemen, which I think is to a very large extent a local condition, tho 

 from what Professor Evvard said this morning, it may not be entirely so. 

 This winter we are up against the proposition of paying from $28 to $34 

 a ton for alfalfa hay, to be utilized in the wintering of our breeding 

 stock. This is an unusual condition for the Kansas farmer, who has 

 heretofore considered from $12 to $15 a maximum price for his hay. So 

 that the crops which we usually use in the maintenance of our breeding 

 herds have increased approximately 100 per cent in value, which means 

 that a great many men do not have a sufficient amount of nerve, or 

 have too much judgment, or whatever way you want to put it, to try to 

 winter the same number of cattle this year that they have wintered here- 

 tofore. 



