General Principles of Live-stock Production 33 



determining the ultimate advantages and disadvantages 

 of these various kinds of hve-stock. When the chief 

 resource of the community is range, the industry must 

 of necessity be either horses, beef cattle, or sheep, and 

 cannot be dairy cattle or hogs. On the other hand, on 

 cultivated ground where land is high priced and feed of 

 extra quality, dairy cows and pigs will be more likely to 

 return a satisfactory profit. 



From the standpoint of the individual, the man who 

 desires a profitable investment for any considerable amount 

 of money will usually find a greater profit in range cattle 

 or sheep. On the other hand, the man who has very 

 limited capital and whose chief resource is his own labor, 

 can invest this labor to much better advantage in some 

 industry like dairying. 



Some of these industries lend themselves to operation 

 on a large scale while others must be limited. Beef cattle 

 and sheep may be handled by the thousand, while very 

 few dairies have proved profitable where there are more 

 than forty or fifty cows. Hogs likewise cannot be kept 

 on too large a scale. Hogs will consume many waste 

 products and the chief profit in these animals is found to 

 come from that source. While practically every farmer 

 anywhere in the West can raise a few hogs at a profit, 

 there are very few who have been able to make a financial 

 success of raising hogs as an exclusive business, since under 

 this plan they are obliged to allow a market value for all 

 feed consumed, and cannot compete with the man who 

 raises his hogs on feeds that would otherwise be wasted. 

 Horses also are rarely raised on a large scale, but are more 

 commonly produced on the farm where the mares do some 

 work to help pay their keep. The farmers can in this 

 way produce them at a low enough price to shut out the 



