216 



DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



procedure is to take the cattle already acclimated in the region and by 

 careful selection and breeding develop a native dairy breed that can exist 

 under conditions of scant pasturage and the dry climate of the west. Part 

 of the work of development of the dry regions will be the breeding of 

 such a race of cattle, just as it is necessary to breed up a strain of wheat, 

 oats or corn adapted to the conditions as they exist. 



Breeds that have been brought to perfection in the Isle of Jersey, in 

 England, Scotland or Holland, where conditions are entirely different 

 from those west of the 98th meridian, may, when transplanted, do fairly 

 well, but before they can do their best they will have, by successive gen- 

 erations of breeding, to become modified in many ways so that they will 

 entirely fit the conditions in which they are placed. It is true that animal 

 life has a wonderful range of adaptability and can adjust itself to almost 

 any conditions, but it is also true that such change may materially modify 

 such functions as giving milk, unless the environments in the new location 

 are made similar to the old. For this reason it is believed to be better 

 wisdom to take cows of native stock, selected because of the*ir better milk- 

 producing qualities and to purchase bulls of accredited record from dairy 

 breeds, and to breed up in the western dry farming region a strain of 

 dairy cows that can through long being accustomed to the conditions be 

 the fittest and best for the dry land dairy farmer. 



As to the actual returns from dairy farming under these conditions 

 we can give you no authentic figures at the present time. It is hoped 

 that by the time the Congress meets another year there will be gathered 

 considerable data on the income of farmers keeping a dairy herd under 

 dry farming conditions. There are, on the eastern slope of the Rocky 

 Mountains, many men engaged in supplementing the income from their 

 farming operations with, a dairy herd. That it pays these farmers there 

 is no doubt. It has enabled them to weather many severe trials by drouth 

 and partial crop failures. It may be said with safety that the net income 

 from twenty good dairy cows will equal that from 100 cows under range 

 conditions. It will take from one to two thousand acres to maintain 100 

 head under range conditions, while twenty dairy cows in the same territory 

 can subsist on from 160 to 320 acres. This means that such locality' can 

 furnish a living for from five to six families who devote their energies 

 to dair5^ing where but one can subsist under range conditions. 



More cattle will be kep^t on the same area. A portion of the land will 

 be devoted to raising forage crops and a portion to wheat or other grain. 

 The income to the community will be several times greater. The social 

 and educational advantages will be many times more desirable and the 

 tendency will be the eventual subjugation of the desert. 



It is not a question of what any man's opinion may be in this matter. 

 The people are clamoring for the land. The large holdings will eventually 

 be divided, and the conditions under which success will be attained will 

 be those surrounding the small farmer. He cannot live by grain alone, and 

 to attempt to grow cattle under range conditions on small areas will be 

 disastrous. There must be a combination of grain and stocky growing. 



