The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1884-11-15
Cattle On the Range

Raising range cattle pays splen-
didly. For instance, the manager
Of a well known cattle company re-
marked the other day, that outside
of the cost of COWS and bulls to pro-
duce them, his beeves only cost
him about 81 per head per year, or
81 to s. for 4 and 5-year-old cattle.
This, of course does not include the
cost of land, fences or winter protec-
ton. The same man had Oh the
market lot of cattle, the sale Of
which netted profit of 40 to 80 per
cent. But the cattle were compar
ativcly thin in flesh and the mana
ger declared that hereafter he in
tendeI to make arrangements for
corn feeding such cattle in the west
before marketing them. He felt
that while the price received was
really q splendid dividend, that to
market cattle that were in such
prime feeding condition was a large
waste of material. Thus it is hat
the range cattle business is every
wear being conducted Oh more busi-
ness-like and economical principles.
Men are asking themselves, "How
can our management be changed so
as to decrease the cost of production
and increase the value of product?"
And it may be we'll to say right
here, for the benefit ofsome novices
who might be misled by the Incl
dent noted above of a lot of cattle
netting fifty per cent, that the clo-
ser business management and the
the general increase Of competition:
the employment of vast sums OF
foreign capital which has hitherto
been drawing only 3 to 5 per cent;
all of this tends to systematlze
ranch management, and therefore to
reduce the bonanza margins that
were once the reward Of men who
went into the business with kind
of blind faith and stuck to it. AS
rule. there is being kind finter-
nal revolution in the range cattle
business of the west. We are in a
kind of transition period. The cat
tie that are making the bonanza
dividends are enjoying free and not
ever crowded ranges; they are fed
not one bit of hay or corn; have
none but such natural shelter as
they can find in winter, and in fact
have a kind of rustic COW or die ex-
istence not very unlike the herds OF
wild animals which had the full
run of the western wilds before the
pioneer cattle raisers ventured to
encroach upon the dominion OF the
red men and the bison. The effolt
of the plains cattle raisers now IS to
gain possession Of their ranges to
insure against the invasion OF the
man with the hoe. AS the land
laws now stand cattlemen In the
Far West cannot very we'll get
enough land in one body to con-
duct the range cattle business on a
very extensive scale. In Texas a
man can buy as much as ne can
pay for. Ranges are being crowded;
men want to keep up their bulls at
certain times of the year so as to
regulate the coming of calves; in Or
der to utilize back lying pastures
wells must be placed, and in order
to get the best results some kind ol
shelter ought to be provided, at
least for fine breeding and thin and
unacclimated stock. The range cat,
tie business is tending more and
more to complexity, and to pro-
duce the best results each year re-
ouires closer thought and watchtul'
ness. But for all that it is paying
larger dividends, when fairly man.
aged, than any other business, ahe
promises we'll for the future, t6ougt
the increasing competition ant
larger requirements are bringing
the cattlemen face to face with prob