Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-04-08
THE CATTLE COUNTRY.
The Peculiar Adaptability Of the Som
Arid Belt to Cattle Raising.

Arid Belt to Cattle Raising.
Where is the best cattle country?
Where can cattle be handled or raised
with small loss and sure profit and no
cruelty? Unhesitatingly l answer in
the semi-arid belt. Here are the re-
quirements of perfect cattle eoun-
try. Grass to usually start early in the
spring, say by the middle of April.
The summers should be warm. The
winters dry. so that the cattle viii not
tramp their feed into tie ground.
where the hogs that follow them can
not find it. Corn should grow to per-
lection. The land should be COM
paratlvely free from hog and cattle
diseases. Such land is the seMi-arid
belt, lying between the ninety-seventh
and n .nety-ninth meridians, and eN-
tending from Dakota to Texas. Within
that area hog cholera is almost un-
known. The cattle are free from dis
ease. There is plenty of cheap corn.
Large crops of millet can be grown
on all the land. Wheat is almost 3
sure crop. The corn-stalks. wheat,
straw and millet supply the cattle
with an abundance of roughneSs dur
ing the winter. All points of the belt
are convenient to market. The creeks
seldom freeze over solidly, and the
cattle have free access to water. The
ground seldom becomes miry, and the
cattle's feet are always sound. The
business of raising cattle, or of feed
ing them, in the semi-arid belt IS
profitable. There are plenty of WE'LL
bred and intelligent people in the
There are good schools in every town.
Land may be purchased on reasonable
terms, but only the bottom land in the
western portion of the semi-arid belt
is corn land. The best of corn land.
say twenty miles from a thriving
town. can be bought for from twenty
to thirty dollars per acre. Near the
towns good bottom land can be
bought for from fifty to seventy-tive
dollars per acre. The upland of the
western portion of the belt is dear at
any price
The increase in the number of cattle
in the semi-arid belt during the five
years last past has been most remark
able. As long as wheat sold at re-
munerative prices the FARMERS did not
pay much attention. to cattle-growing.
But when the price OF wheat began to
fall. and the value of cattle to increase
rapidly, they realized that it was no
longer wise o'burn their straw, or de-
vote corn land to wheat culture. To
show how closely intelligent men who
are engaged in the same business en-
plOy the same methods of thought and
arrive at the same conclusions. l in
stance the farmers of Kansas. Up to
the autumn Of 1881 calves were freely
sold by these men. After the crop of
calves of 1882 was born, it was rare to
see veal hanging in q: butchers shop.
Almost all the calves, born in the SEMI
arid belt OF Kansas since 1882 have
been raised. Last spring. when trav-
cling in Kansas, in a region where bat
few cattle we've held three years ago.
saw small herds, of cattle in every
barn-yard. The statistics Of Kansas
for 1888 show that there were 1.S0i.-
34S in the State in the spring of that
year. There are about =, 800, 900 in the
State now. There has, aeen a similar
increase in Nebraska; and there has
been an astonishing increase since 1880
in the number OF cattle in the five corn
States-amountingn ow to 13,O0O.O0U.
Frank IEik;eSon, IL, Hdrper's W0ga-
zlRe.