The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-09-12
RANCHlNG CHANGED
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PRINcI-
PIES RULE CATTLE RAISING.
An Increase in the Number Of Small
Farms in West Have Restricted
Ranges and Made New
sytem' Necessary.

The raising, FEEDING and shipping OF
industry Of the great southwest, but ia
recent yes.rs while the cattle business
has not decreased in volume, 1t has COW
cred less space Farmers are coming and
using up the Government land. formeiI
vast ranches.
A recent census shows that there arc
10O0.o00 more farms today than ten yeA..
ago. and all Of these In Oklahoma. indian
Territory, Colorado. New Mexico and
Arizona. But the number of cattle held
In these territories has nos decreased
from the average number-6,2500O0. The
approximate value OF the cattle held IN
the great Southwest-the States and Ter
ritories mentioned, including Texas as
WELLS near SIPS, 000. 900. This number de-
creases and increases as the seasons
come and go.
With the gradual settlement Of the
Southwest frontier, the cattle business
loses its wild and free reign of the soil.
Ranchmen must curtail their pasture
land. and figure closely upon the sus-
tenance necessary for the fattening of
cost and when pastures run short OF
grass the herds must be put ''on feed"
at heavy expense. Consequently the
economics of modern cattle ranching
need the strictest Of business Judgment
IL profits are to be realized.
The business Of cattle raising Is not
now the mere turning loose of vast herds
upon the plains and allowing them to
fatten and prosper OF their own accord.
From the time the small yearlings are
placed In the barnyard Of the modern
cattle ranch Of today until driven out
of the stock car at the yards of the
a constant strain. To the onward march
of civilization Westward ID due the con-
gestion OF the cattle business on the
Southwest plains, the crowding into an
area one-half the size of ten years ago.
But cattlemen Of today are making for
tunes Just as they did when range was
cheap and plentiful. Better business
an interesting story Of economics
A dozen years ago Texas ranchman
asserted that twenty-five acres OF grass
land was insufficient for the fattening
Of one steer for marketing. Last month
homa allowed three acres for each OF
his 5000 head. and said that this Is re-
ally half acre In excess Of actual need.
He says that the range steer OF today
fattens easier than the longhorns Of
frontier days Better blood has been
bred into the stock cattle.
The cattle ranch of the present era IS
not a cattle ranch at all, but farm, run
on a large scale. Take a 10000 acre tract
Of land, used primarily as cattle rancn.
Not less than 1900 acres OF this Will De
in cultivation, sown to wheat. oats, corn
and millet, while at least 5000 acres VIII
be sown to alfalfa. The remainder Is
pasture land.
Old stock raisers would have secuted
the idea of sowing their range in ce-
would have changed the cattle about
from one part Of the country to IAN
other, seeking fresh range instead OF
striving to make fresh fields at nome.
But the custom of driving steers TO Iat,
tening pastures has been tried ana io"ho
wanting.
The fields change in aspect. Instead OF
finding only cowboys upon the rancn OF
the present time there are many farm.
49, EnnW nothing ADOut
riding a bucking broncho or roplng
racing steer. And the cowboys must I'm,
derstand farming, for during the oun
season OF guarding the neros, gsns ,,, 4,
the fields. Tenderfeet who imagine the
ranching section of the West In these
days to be populated entirely with cow
boys. booted and spurred, are IN et tvns
Of workmen may be found anywhere than
the young fellows who now make cattle
herding and farming a business.
What of the herds and steers then tnat
are being raised and shipped into the
Western markets every season, faii ana
spring? The stock wards reports tell
that the grade Is much above the hign-
est average. On the range one will know
breeding Of finer stock Is now a part
of the ranchman's program, as wei as
the raising of them.
extent of it's ranches. Land is cheaper
there than elsewhere on the frontier.
hence primitive cattle raising remains
more primitive in that State than IN
oklsh9%a New MS western SoG Kansas has
come to the fore in very recent years
as a rich cattle country. Along the san
la Fe, Rock Island and Missouri Pacinc
roads, running to Colorado ana ,ns west
The Sherman ranch on the missouri ia.
cifc Road. near Geneseo. Is a type OF
the modern cattle ranch 1t contains
"a ono acres. OF which 5000 acres are
sown to corn and forage crops, besides
2001 acres In wheat. This ranch pro-
duces $500 fat beeves for sale ANNUALLY,
besides 1000 yearling calves. wnicn are
sattened for the market by the owner
of the ranch are not only allowed to run
on the pasture, but they are fed WIN
corn ground feed, bran and cottonseeo
meal, a newly discovered feed Tor steers
The Frank Rockefeller ranch In West
ern Kansas on the Santa Fe Railroad at
Belvidere Is a more perfect type OF tne
ranch which all cattlemen OF this era
are striving to own. or course. Mr..
Rockefeller is not hampered for money,
as a majority of cattiemen are. He has
had fifteen or twenty immense stone anu
steel barns erected at different parts OF
his 1900 acre property has dug at an
enormous expense immense lakes for
irrigation of his fields and employed the
finest experts in the cattle business 70
work for him. The annual expense oI
his ranch is almost equal to the pronts.
but he says he is going to have the best
stock ranch in the West soon ana IL
therefore sparing nothing to gain that
end.
of Texas are G.. w. Littleheld ana e; Z.
Slaughter each of whom owns a million
or more acres. They follow the old plan
of allowing range cattle to fatten almost
exclusively upon the range, with nernaps
a month on full feed before shipping;
But their full feed only means corn ana
foddek while a full feed In the north
ern part of the Southwest country means
ground corn, millet and various mixed
chops. ~ 49,. l.,
a free-range herd law, which allows any
and every one to pasture their cattle
and sheep upon Government land But
even in these remote sections farmers
have been homesteading quarter sections
at an Increasing rate that alarms the
stockmen Major Littlefeld OF Texas.
perceiving the possibility OF too many
small farmers in New Mexico. has re-
Gently purchased 100000 acres in the riv-
err valleys. and has stocked this immense
ranch with 75000S head OF steers. Al
though an advocate of plenty of range
for cattle. he IL coming into line with
other expert raisers and is giving each