The twice=a=week herald. (Amarillo, Tex.) 1887-1906, 1905-05-12
IN THE PANHANDLE
Future of tine Cattle Industry in
the Great Plains
Country

handle, WnaC OF It's tuCureT F1aS IL
seen it's best days or are its best
days yet to Gomez All about US
here we see the large ranches be-
ing divided up. The land COM
mands higher and higher prices.
There is no more land to be leased
of the state at three cents per
acre and no taxes to pay" The
cowman is confronted with the
proposition that he must own his
land or 90 out of the business and
very few can figure out that it will
pay to invest fifty dollars in fifteen
acres of land and paw taxes on the
same for the purpose of grazing
one COW with seventy-five chances
in one hundred of getting one ten
dollar calf per year. What, then,
is the future of the cattle industry
here2 There seems but one thing
to do and that is improve the breeds
so that better beef animals shall be
raised, improve the natural re-
sources of the country to the end
that, instead of forty COWS, sec
ton of land will support two or
three times that number Can this
be accomplished? We think it can.
The improvements of the cattle
breeds is we'll under way already.
In the Panhandle can already be
found some Of the very best highly
bred beef herds IN the state and it
is also the home of many thorough
bred Herefords, Shorthoms and
Angus herds that need not be
beaten at any stock show,
As to the second propc ..on,
the Panhandle of Texas, when its
i natural resources are developed,
can be made to support five head
of cattle where it formerly sup
ported one, The old time cattle
men says: "Whew, there's a
crazy head, sure But let US see.
We have a soil that will produce
milo maize and Kaffir corn, an al
most absolutely sure crop every
year. No need of failure if the
proper care is taken in preparing
and cultivating the land and in
looking after the crop. The feeding
value of these crops is more acre
for acre than the average feeding
value of Indian corn. 1t has been
demonstrated that they are sure
crops here. Alfalfa can be sue
cessfully raised on tour-fifths of
our plains uplands and is as sure a
crop as Kaffir or maize. Indian
corn and oats can also be raised
here. A few of our men with the
hoe are showing US how. After a
while we will all learn. The future
of the cattle industry in the Pan
handle is bright enough but sue
cess will have to be soughtfor on
new lines. The cattlemen will be
forced to seek it by making the
most and the best of our natural
resources.
The time has come when the
scrub COW and the barbed wire
windbreak must not be allowed to
prepare the spring harvest for the
hide buyer.
Some of you will say that | am
wild when | assert that alfalfa can
be as successfully grown on these
plains as it is on the prairies Of
Kansas and Nebraska. You, that
think so, please make a note of my
assertion. Remember it and refer
to it a few years from now when
you will find our plains dotted with
alfalfa fields. If you want to be
convinced sooner, make close in
quiry and you will learn that a few
pioneers have already demonstrate
ed this fact and if, like the man
from Missouri, you must be shown,
there are plenty Of places where
you can see the demonstration.
Come to Willow Springs ranch.