62 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



and the risk is always less as you reduce the labor cost per acre and in- 

 crease the size of the farm unit, up to the limit which can be handled by a 

 single family. 



The settlement of the Plains country should not decrease the amount of 

 livestock which can be maintained under a proper system of land manage- 

 ment. On the contrary, it should increase the stock-carrying capacity 

 since the growth of forage crops and of grain to supplement both forage 

 and grass should make the country capable of supporting more cattle, 

 horses, sheep, and swine than is possible under range conditions. 



In central and western Nebraska, through the increase in price of 

 feeding cattle, the growing of cattle for the feedlot has become equally as 

 profitable as feeding these cattle for the market, and in many faiTns in 

 eastern Nebraska this is also true. This conditions probably obtains also 

 in Kansas and Oklahoma. The tendency of the last decade to eliminate 

 breeding stock on account of summer drought and insufficient ^rass will 

 now be at least partially counteracted by the price of cattle, which has 

 more than doubled in the last decade; and unless we increase the ratio of 

 meat supply to population the price is likely still further to increase. 



With dairy cattle, and to a limited extent with beef cattle, summer 

 forage crops, alfalfa, and silage can supplement native pastures. Instead 

 of keeping steers until thirty or thirty-six months of age to make them 

 weigh 1,000 or 1,200 pounds, they can be made to reach the same weight 

 and be ready for market at from eighteen to twenty-four months, saving 

 a year of maintenance. As at least one-half the ration on full feed goes 

 into body maintenance, the only excuse for marketing cattle at three year? 

 instead of two years will be to utilize cheap forms of roughness, which is 

 always profitable even at the expense of slow growth. 



We are rapidly coming to the point where our cultivated lands must 

 grow beef rather than fatten cattle, and, while it may always be profitable 

 to buy some feeder cattle from the region of cheap land and low-priced 

 roughness, our farmers shoulud at least study the problem of finishing 

 their cattle for the market where enough grain is grown to supply the local 

 needs and a surplus for shipment. 



The silo is becoming a necessary adjunct not only to the farmer on 

 high-priced land but also in the dry country where a crop may grow to 

 approaching maturity and be lost through drought before it is needed for 

 feed unless., it is preserved in the silo. Through most of the dry region, 

 the pit silo is more efficient than the one built above ground. It can be 

 constructed by the farmer himself with almost no outlay except for cement 

 with which to plaster the walls. It does not blow down, and upon the dry 

 lands little or no danger of seepage exists. With the increased interest in 

 livestock which is now taking place, the use of the pit silo is likely to be 

 greatly extended. 



In feeding calves for baby beef at the North Platte Station, where five 

 different rations were fed, the lot receiving alfalfa hay, corn and a limited 

 ration of silage made the largest gains, the cheapest gains, and the most 

 profit per head. The next cheapest gains were made upon alfalfa hay 



