KEEPING LIVESTOCK 551 



Livestock make possible the production and profitable utilization of grasses 

 and clovers. When these are fed to livestock and the manure is returned 

 to the land, the fertility of the soil is increased. Good sods, plenty of manure 

 and animals to utilize by-products extend the range of crops that may be 

 grown on the farm and thus provide for better crop rotations. 



Capital More Fully Used. — The wheat farmer in the Northwest is 

 very busy from spring until fall, but is generally idle from September to 

 March. When livestock is kept, labor of men and teams is more fully 

 employed and equipment more fully utilized. 



Livestock Call for Higher Skill. — Animal husbandry, including keep- 

 ing of dairy cattle, poultry, etc., may be made to require higher skill than 

 ordinary extensive production of crops. It calls for the same requirements 

 so far as the care of the soil and the production of crops are concerned, and 

 there is added to this the skill of the breeder and the feeder. The products 

 of skilled workmen command a higher price than do those of the unskilled 

 workmen. In this country those communities that have given most atten- 

 tion to livestock are in general the most prosperous. There are, of course, 

 some exceptions to this. 



More Land may be Farmed with the Same Labor. — This is true 

 only in the extensive grazing of livestock, as exemplified in the ranches of 

 the West, notably in the breeding and rearing of cattle and sheep. When 

 these are brought to the farm of the feeder, they really reverse the process 

 and call for increased labor and skill on the unit of area. 



DISADVANTAGES OF LIVESTOCK 



Animals Require Larger Capital — This is especially true when kept 

 in connection with the production of hay and grain. On a 160-acre farm 

 40 head of cattle worth $1500, 40 sheep worth $300 and 20 hogs worth 

 $300 may be kept, and the farm made to raise all the necessary food for 

 them. This would increase the capital of the farm by $2100. It would 

 also call for additional capital in buildings, and this would all be an increase 

 over what would be required if the same land were used only for cash crops. 

 On a farm that supplies all the feed for livestock, $10 per acre invested in 

 livestock may be considered as moderate. If only the coarse feed is grown 

 it may carry stock to the value of $25 to $30 per acre. This is exemplified 

 in many dairy farms close to market, and sometimes on farms where stock 

 are fattened for market. 



Capital of Perishable Nature. — Animal diseases, such as tuberculosis 

 or foot and mouth disease in cattle, cholera in hogs, and internal parasites 

 in sheep, may quickly wipe out the animals on any particular farm. This 

 entails a loss not only of the product for a single year, but also of all the 

 capital that may have been invested in feeds and labor to bring the stock 

 to that stage of maturity at which it was destroyed by disease. 



Formerly, it was not uncommon in the corn belt to find farmers keep- 

 ing 100 or more head of hogs in a single herd, but it is now deemed best to 



