The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-31
THE SMALL FARMER.
Does it Pay to Grow Live Stock on
Small Scalep

~ " OAOM Live 0IOCK OH q
Small Scalep
This paper, states the Rocky Noun
tain Husbandmar. having for a Ions
time been an earnest advocate of the
| small farmer becoming live stock
grower the question now arises. have
we been in error all these days or will
II actually pay to grow stock on a small
scale? By small scale we mean less
than 300 head. We have ALWAYS he.
leVed that it would pay to keep even
less than 80 head of stock on the farm
but few days since we met a friend
VINO mas been engaged in stockgrowinsr
number of years but has recently sold
MS stock, and being a skilled mechanic
proposes to return TO DAYS labor to
! support his family, maintaining that
! MS premises We're too small to support
5OO head of cattle and less than that
! number could not be made to pay. We
asked him if he did not think he could
! double the income from the sale of cat
Tie by marketing prime beef only. He
SAID yes, he could, but he had not suf-
nclent land to grow the feed.
We suggested that without materi-
ally reducing the acreage OF his
meadow 1t was possible to double the
tonnage of feed produced by growing a
rev acres of beets. rutabagas and tur-
1 nlps, but he continued to insist that
$1,000 was the best that could be done
with 300 cattle and that less amount
would not be sufficient TO justify one
TO put in his time in this industry.
Our opinion is that our neighbor has
rather too high an estimate placed
upon what farmer or small stock
grower should be able to do in a year
If our small holders of farms were abs
TO chronicle such figures as he men
toned our Montana farmers would
IN
earth, Tor in addition to their live stock
income all rural residents who have
poultry and grow vegetables and small
fruits are enabled to make a living.
When we advocate stock raising on a .
small scale we of course mean the
Keeping of Just so many head of ami
mails as is necessary to consume the
products of the farmers premises. or
such thereof as is not marketable at
better figures in the home market than
these products can be made TO bring by
feeding them to cattle. Three tons of
hay. for instance, will easily take a
steer through two winters and three
additional will fit him for the block,
which at the liberal estimate of Sc per
ton. would make the steer cost 1856.
But to be fair in the matter we
should allow ton and half for the /
COW that produced the steer. which
would add IS more TO the cost of the :
animal. and any animal that has had
this treatment will bring s4s. Now
there is even cheaper feed than the I
common wild hay. Two tons of alfalfa I
hay land alfalfa Will yield more tons
per acre than other grass) will accom-
pllsh the same result and by feeding
the animal on roots. feed that can be !
produced at a profit of 50 per ton. the
hay consumed may be greatly lessened
and the tonnage of feed on the small
farm greatly increased.
Now our idea of the proposition is
that it is not a question as to how
many cattle are necessary for the
farmers support. but how many head
he can feed judiciously and thereby
find market for crops not otherwise
marketable. The farmer with $50 acres
Of land does not expect to make net
income OF $500 year by ordinary
He might make this in fruit
growing or daring or by combining
these pursuits, but the fact that the
of our small farmers run short
Of these figures is no reason why they
cannot get ahead in the world and
finally get in independent circum-
stances.
Montana is traversed by several rail-
Dads and still our farmers find tnat in
he shipping of many of their products
o our own home market the item of
freight consumes the most of their
profits. This is not the case where the
armers put their products into beef
md mutton. In this shape the crops
# Montana may even he sent to the
Instant marts beyond the ocean at
,fofit. and il matters not whether the !
srmer is able to feed FIVE head of
teers or So he viii find the small
number proportionately as profitable as
he large number. I
The man who can do better than {
arm and raise stock. unless he can
lear $l.500 a year. is very fortunate in }
Iced. for we have in mind dozens of 1
armers who do not raise live stock
'ut depend upon marketing their grain c
n the sack and hay in the bale. and I
'ho Go not grow roots from the fact '
hat they cannot be marke ted at any +
rice, who would be more than salts
ed with half the income mentioned II S
; all right for the man who can do u
etter to press on to those things that [
re the more profitable. but we are too p
ell acquainted with farm and ranch
fe in Montana to presume for a mo- k
lent that ii will not pay to bother a
18th live stock when one is not pre- p
AIRED to care for over 500 head. The Il
lrmer may. if necessity requires it, p
art in with only few head of mich d
Ows. Good care. good breeding and
atience to wait few years will bring II
i'm to the front an right it
The farms whose products are mar il
eted in the shape of fat stock are as a C;
lie improved from year to year. but fl
W farmers have sufficient skill to n
eep up the fertility of their lands and p
lie mode of husbandry which keeps up W
Ie farm is the most convenient and V,
-ofitable and is the one to pursue In
Irlier days when the ranges of our q
d settled valleys began to become ex- al
lusted, the most of the cattle were la
-iven out and the people undertook II
live by farming and marketing the pi
W products in our mining camps. but tv
story is repeating itself and stock
ising is again coming in vogue y W
Our farmers all grow a few head of m
ock and are learning that they pay al
tier than the method of selling the W
oduce from the farm direct We al
not recommend exclusive stock nus to
ndry unless the premises are es- es
cially adapted TO the pursuit. but tn
. would say diversity the products in