32 BULLETIN 654, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



beef, and unbred heifers a\ ill bring as much or more at the age of 

 3 years when fattened for beef. Prices placed upon dairy live 

 stock were about as follows: High grade heifers ranging in age from 

 6 months to 1 year, S40; "springer" heifers, $65 to $75; full-grown 

 cows, $S0 to $150, the average being about $100, as shown in 

 Table XIII. 



The average price paid for butter fat by the creameries was 25.47 

 cents a pound, and 30 cents was offered where the farmer would 

 agree to deliver his milk or cream sweet. At these prices for buttei 

 fat and for dairy live stock, dairying, under conditions similar to 

 those prevailing in 1913, 1914, and 1915, appears to have been the 

 most stable farm enterprise in southern Arizona, as well as one of the 

 most profitable. 



The amount of expansion the dairy enterprise will stand and 

 still remain profitable can not be stated definitely. The opinion of 

 three leading creamery men was that the present output of dairy 

 products may be doubled without unfavorable effect on present 

 markets, and that other markets can be developed. The limit in 

 the amount of irrigated land in these valleys will not allow T an expan- 

 sion much greater than this and still retain other profitable enter- 

 prises. It appears, then, that success in expansion will depend more 

 upon the market for young dairy heifers after the limits of expansion 

 have been reached than upon new markets for dairy products, unless 

 changes should take place that would limit the present market for 

 these products or lower the price paid for them. 



The dairy enterprise has some drawbacks such as losses from bloat, 

 contagious abortion, contagious scours, calf pneumonia, and garget, 

 the latter disease being present in a malignant form, seemingly pro- 

 moted by the extreme heat of the summer months. It is also diffi- 

 cult to deliver cream sweet without using a considerable amount of 

 ice during the summer months. Contagious scours is being controlled 

 by sanitation, calf pneumonia by vaccination, bloat by rotation pas- 

 turing and feeding hay with pasture, and the other diseases will no 

 doubt yield to good sanitary methods and care in breeding. 



BEEF CATTLE. 



Fattening beef cattle for the market has long been a favorite 

 enterprise on the larger farms in southern Arizona. Contrary to the 

 prevailing custom in the Eastern States, the cattle are not fed grain, 

 but are fattened on green alfalfa forage (see fig. 9) and hay, and the 

 feeding period may vary from 8 to 16 months in length, depending 

 on the size and age of the steers when purchased. The abundance 

 of green forage throughout nearly the entire year, the proximity of 

 the ranges, and the large number of high-grade native steers fur- 

 nished by the dairymen of the valleys are factors favorable to the 



