LIVE STOCK ON DRY FARMS 425 



of well planned pasture from grasses grown under 

 cultivation, should be from two to three times as much 

 as from grasses produced 'from the native prairie. The 

 production of live stock on the arable farms will there- 

 fore, in time, greatly increase the production of beef and 

 mutton, to say nothing of the production of pork and 

 poultry, which was impossible under old-time range con- 

 ditions. 



Why live stock should be kept. Live stock should 

 be kept on the arable form for the following reasons 

 among others that may be given: (1) to prevent waste 

 on the farm ; (2) to prevent waste on the range ; (3) to 

 increase diversity in production ; (4) to maintain fertil- 

 ity in the land ; (5) to furnish food for the home, and 

 (6) to increase the revenues from the farm. 



In the absence of live stock on the arable farm other 

 than the work horses that till the land, serious waste 

 is unavoidable; (1) there will be more or less waste in 

 the uneaten grasses of untilled portions ; (2) in the straw, 

 much or all of which will probably be burned; (3) in the 

 grain heads that are lost amid the stubbles because un- 

 gleaned ; (4) in the uneaten food that grows up amid 

 the stubbles, and (5) in the unconsumed grain that is 

 unavoidably wasted where threshing is done in the open 

 air. Such waste is unavoidable in areas where live stock 

 is not maintained. 



In newly settled areas, there are usually more or less 

 range pastures contiguous to the individual farms. This 

 may be entirely wasted in the absence of live stock to 

 consume it. In some instances these pastures are so 

 ample as to justify the homesteader in making the grow- 

 ing of live stock the dominant feature of his work, until 

 the adjacent lands are taken up as homesteads. 



The growing of live stock encourages diversity in 

 production. It encourages the growth of forage and root 

 crops. While tfiey are being grown the land is being 



