POINT OF VIEW ON LIVE-STOCK PROBLEMS 205 



63 per cent of the farms made butter in 1900. These 

 small dairy herds are very largely fed on corn stalks, 

 straw, and hay that is of poor quality. Most of them are 

 pastured on land that is not well adapted to farming. 



Beef cattle are, to a still greater extent, maintained on 

 low-grade products. A considerable portion of them are 

 raised in arid regions, where they range over large areas, 

 gathering the little food that grows. In the central west, 

 their chief foods in winter are straw and the standing corn 

 stalks on which they pasture. Only in the finishing period 

 are they given any large amount of food that has much 

 selling value. 



Any one who produces beef or dairy products must com- 

 pete with products that are raised on cheap feed. For 

 this reason, it is rarely wise to keep so many animals as to 

 require that their food be chiefly composed of salable 

 products. Only when the stock is very valuable, or when 

 the product is unusually valuable, does it pay to stock a 

 farm much more heavily than the average of the region. 



In the corn-belt, hogs are given a considerable amount 

 of good grain, but an increasing use is being made of pas- 

 ture in hog production. One who grows hogs entirely on 

 good grain must compete with those who use pasture for 

 a jconsiderable part of the feed. 



Many farms in the older states" keep a few sheep as 

 scavengers. These sheep clean up weeds, use low-grade 

 hay, bean pods, or other cheap food of the region. It may 

 pay to keep a few sheep in this way when it would not 

 pay at all to keep a large number. 



One of the important costs in colt production is the time 

 of the mare. Persons who have full use for horses every 

 day rarely raise colts. Horses on farms are usually 

 idle a considerable part of the year. The average time 



