Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-01-14
FATTENlNG Stock
Mistakes of Minnesota Farm
ers in Shipping Lean Y.
Stock.

At the live stock cOMVrn tiOn IN
session in It. Paul this week. several
papv,s were read ON he IA itching. ~
stock. and the practice Of AlinntsOta'I
farmers Of shipping voting ami lem
stock was shown to he Il mistake.
The remarks ~ Prof. Shaw, Ot the
Minnesota agricultural school. we've
IN purt ns follows:
In my judgment no mistake IL be-
ing made by the farmers OF the West
today that ia costing them So muct,
~ that ui selling liv" stock from off
the farms while young and lem. lit
IL costing the North H-st every year
many times more tina" 1t il paying
for government. for ehuratinn or for
the support of churches. Yes. tt il
costing more than is paid for all ri
these combined. And in addition TO
the direct loss u! income from the
-nle of these animals in the form
mentioned. there is II loss OF fertility
from year t. year that il appalling
to contemplate. TO show that these
statements are not mere assertions.
hut painfully true. will be my aim in
this paper.
OF III the states il. the Northwest
our OWNS un4uestionably the great
est offender in the sale OF live stock
from off the farm while young AMI
lean and immature. There is no
estimating what this iniatuation in
practice il costing us since the exact
figures which bear upon the ship
ments ore not all available. During
recent years it has been part ut
my duty to the state to take part In
the work beng conducted by the
turner's institutes. The travel thus
necessirated furnished an excellent
opportunity to Look into this ques.
ton. tried to improve the oppor-
tunity, seldom failing to inquire of
the station agent where an institute
wa. held as to the shipnt n is of cattle,
yOnng and lean, from the farms in
the neighbOrbOOd. And during those
several seasons Of inquiry have
found but few Stations in all Mime
sofa from which such shipments
were not being made every year.
The shipments would usually vary
from ~ single car load to a score,
and in some instances from one to
two Thousand animals would BE-
thus shipped away in a single year.
Mr.. 5. l.. Moore has stated that In
two OF the spring months Of 1891, no
fewer than 16,O0O head of young
cattle were shipped out Of the state
from stations along the line Ut the
Northern Pacific. Aud doubtless the
shipments along the line Of the Great
Northern were equally great. From
:: the data that has been gathered
FROM various sources. l have com"
to the conclusion that during recent
years our state has every year ship
ped away at least 100000 head 1T
cattle of ages varying from ak to
twenty -four months. These animals
have not been shi 1ped to the mark
cts to be slaughtered. Manv have
gone to the ranges of the West tn he
further grown there, or to farmers
of the states lying to the south and
sout n west to he grown and finished
for market. The computation ia es
no noti"e VI the many thousand in
addition 10 non-mature animals
that are sent to the markets in the
lean or half-finished form.
The evidences of the mistake are
clear, and they are not far tn seek.
II the Iowa farmer c&n afford to
come to Minnesota and buy such
animals, II he Gun afford to grow
them further on his farm, and If he
can afford to come to- Minnesota and
buy barley and oil cake to supplant
his corn, surely the Minnesota farm
ers can better afford to keep such
animals at home, to grow them
further on his own farm and to
furnish them on such foods as the
Iowa farmer is anxious to buy from
him. Never will our state prosper
as it may until the animals thus
grown come to be finished at home,
and until thousands and tens of
thousands more of these are pro-
duced to consume the coarse and
cheap foods from our farms.
ueod "a Gun.