THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVE STOCK 21 



or 85 per cent of the value of the food or crop becomes animal 

 excrement, and thus is returned to the soil for its up-building. 

 When, as in case of dairy-cattle farming, much more grain 

 is fed than is grown on the farm, then the land steadily im- 

 proves in its producing capacity. The best examples of 

 intelligent general farming are to be found where herds 

 and flocks are kept as important features of a well-balanced 

 farm system. Where the special business is stock farming, 

 then the final product in its concentrated form will yield far 



Fig. 5. Sheep on a Scotch mountainside, with no vegetation but grass. Photo- 

 graph by the author. 



more important and profitable returns in the long run 

 than will any other method. One hundred acres of grain 

 shipped a thousand miles require a large expenditure of labor 

 and money, while this same crop, in the form of a con- 

 centrated product like butter or meat, may be transported 

 at relatively much less expense. 



Stock farming is adapted to the cheaper and rougher 

 lands. Much land that might not be used for other purposes 

 can be devoted to pasturing farm animals. The grass on the 



