﻿III. NORTHWESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN SHRINKAGE 



By W. F. Waed, 

 Senior Animal Husbandman, Animul Husbandry Division. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The beef-cattle industry of the Northwest is still one of importance 

 and contributes extensively to the supply of cattle sold on the Chi- 

 cago, St. Paul, and Omaha markets. It is true that there are not so 

 many cattle raised and shipped from that section as there were 

 ten years ago. The invasion of the large grain farmers, the small 

 farmers, the homesteaders or " squatters " and the sheepmen have 

 been a series of blows which have been felt very materially by the 

 cattle industry. There are some people, even some of the older 

 cattlemen, who seem to see the doom to their kind and death to their 

 industry. In a way they are right. The " old timers " must go, 

 and with them their traditions and their methods. The ever-increas- 

 ing values of some of the lands of the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, 

 Colorado, and Nebraska, due to their settlement by farmers and 

 their use for the production of grain, are naturally raising the valua- 

 tion of the grazing lands, and thus raising the cost of producing beef 

 under range conditions. The large ranges of the Northwest are 

 being cut up into small farms wherever practicable, and draft, ani- 

 mals are replacing the tough and blocky ponies of that section. The 

 many men with very few cows are taking the land from the few 

 men with many cows. 



Although the number of cattle shipped from these ranges during 

 the past year has dropped to less than half the amount of six years 

 ago, it does not naturally follow that the decrease will continue until 

 this section is no longer a cattle country. It always will produce 

 a large number of cattle, since there are immense areas of this land 

 which can be used for grazing only. Some of it is not suitable for 

 farming, and on these tracts cattle and sheep will abound. Then, 

 too, the farmers, although they usually raise grain only, will have 

 to begin raising some live stock to keep up the fertility of their soil 

 and eventually to consume part of their grain. 



The same thing will probably happen here that came to pass in 

 Illinois and Iowa. Many of the grain fanners will become stock 

 50 



