Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1886-06-09
The Best Cattle Country.

Where ia the best cattle country?
Where can cattle be handled or raised
with small loss and sure profit and no
cruelty? Unhesitatingly / answer in
the semi-arid belt. Here are the re-
quirements Of a perfect cattlej country;
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 will not tramp
their feed into the ground, where the
hogs that follow them cannot find it.
Corn should grow to perfection. The
land should be comparatively free from
hog and cattle diseases. Such a land
is the semi-arid belt, lying between the
9th and 99th meridians, and extending
from Dakota to Texas. Within that
area hog cholera is almost unknown.
The cattle are free from disease. There
is plenty Of cheap corn. Large crops
OF millet can be grown on all the
land. Wheat is almost a sure crop.
The corn stalks, wheat straw and millet
supply the cattle with an abundance of
roughness during 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 feeding
them, in the semi-arid belt is profitable.
There are plenty of well-bred and in
telligent people in the country. The
country is healthful. 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 q thriving town, can
be bought for from $40 to $50 per acre.
Near the towns good bottom land can
be bought for from $50 to $75 per
acre. The upland of the western por-
ton 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 remarka-
BILE. As long IS wheat sold at remun-
erative prices the farmers did not pay
much attention to cattlc-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 to burn their straw, or to
devote 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, / 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, il was rare to
see veal hanging in o butchers shop.
Almost all the calves born in the semi
arid belt Of Kansas since 1882 have
been raised. Last spring, when travel
ing in Kansas, in q region where but
few cattle were held three years ago, I
~ small herds of cattle in every barn
yard. The statistics of Kansas for 1888
show that there were 1901, 348 in the
State in the spring of that year. There
are about 100000 in the State now.
There has been a similar increase in
Nebraska; and there has been an as
tonishing increase since 1880 in the
number Of cattle in the Ave corn States
amounting now to 10, 0O0. 000.-Frank
WilEes0n, IN Harper,S Md0dsine.