Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-10-20
A Future for Catt @.

A gentleman who possesses unusual facilities for acquiring accurate infor- nation touching the range cattle iE- terest remarked in our hearing a few days ago from the best data he had been able to gather he was satisfied that the production of cattle on the range had fallen at least sixty per cent. within the past three years. He re-
 marked in this connection that the reason why this great reduction in the product of the range country had not already affected the market for beef was found in the fact that the supply of three-year-old steers had not been very greatly lessened it was when the range product-the calves of this and the preceding two years-begun to come into the market that the re- duced supply would be felt. And then he began to speculate on the probable effect of this reduced range supply upon the general cattle interest of the country. Our friend argued that the production of cattle on large scale on free ranges was practically thing of the past, and that henccforth beth food and shelter must be provided excepting in a flew especially favored localities. He added that alfalfa, pro- duced by means of irrigation in the valleys, must be the chief source of winter food, but that when it came to this most of the advantages which these cattlemen had hitherto enjoyed over those of Illinois, Iowa and Mis- souri, would be gone. It seemed to be his settled opinion that the country would wake up to the fact in year or two more that little short of beef famine was upon us and that ultimate ly the production of beef would be relegated to the great corn and grass producing regions of the central west as the place were beef will be per manently produced more cheaply than in any other part of the United States
 It appears to us that there is a good deal of solid truth and hard common sense in our friends suggestion, and that the farmers of our country who have become so discouraged over the competition of the free ranges during the past year as to practically give ur the business of raising and feeding steers may again embark in 1t with every prospect of remunerative prices in the very near future. It seems tC be generally conceded that the raising of cattle in any considerable mum CTS without a winter food supply of some sort can no longer be carried on successfully, and this state O things point to the fact that tho cattle industry must be reconstructed to meet the changed conditions.
 There is also a silver lining to tn, dark cloud that has for year or two past hung over the breeders of tht best strains of pedigreed cattle. While cattle breeding was languishing among general farmers on account of compe tition from the free ranges, the latte
 furnished strong market for all thu well-bred bulls that could be produced albeit the purchasers were not alway as discriminating as they should hav
 been as to purity of blood and indi vidual merit. That market wa
 largely fallen off, but revival of tn
 business of raising and feeding steer by the general farmers of our countr, will cause a large home demand fo bulls of the best blood, and these hom
 buyers will as rule be much nor discriminating in their purchases thai were the proprietors of the immens western ranges.-Breeders Gazette.