The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-09-21
Utilization of Our Deserted
Farms.

10y Df. r. d. Huntington, U. S. Bureau o.
Animal Industry1
Ihere was time. not so MANY year:
ago either, when Maine farmers al
raised and used oxen. About all the
work on the farm was done by oxen then
While they were profitable for WORKING
the farm they were kept at work ane
were then driven to the market and
slaughtered for beef. The best of beef
they made too, the kind that TODAY com.
mands fancy price in New England OF
elsewhere, for that matter. WHY dom,
the farmers go back to this method OF
dong their work and make a profit ont
of their farms?
They will tell you they can't compete
with the western cattlemen because il
costs more to feed cattle here than II
does on the prairies of the West, Fig
ures show that this is not true. Once
the cattle roamed at will over the I'm
fenced praries of the great West. They
were raised in Texas and driven SLOWLY
over the country to the north, feeding on
the way on the free government lands.
at the end of the journey fattened for
the market on cheap corn and then shin
ped to the great slaughtering points.
COS1 RISES IN THE WEST
This is thing of the past. The prairies
are gone. Today there are no free gov
eminent feeding lands. Cattle must be
raised on their owners range and then
fatted at home by corn bought and ship
ped to the ranch or else loaded on cars
and shipped to some fattening place.
The expense of doing this is constant
ly increasing. Corn isn't as cheap as it
was at one time for such purposes. To
raise cattle in the West costs more and
more money each year. About 1900
dressed beef cattle are brought into
Maine each week from the West. This
is about $1,000 year. In Maine there
are SO, 300 farms, without counting acres
and acres of good land for such purposes
not now developed, where cattle enough
to feed an empire might be raised, but
inst the farms now in existence IN the
State.
Surprising the most of the farmers in
Maine raised and killed one pair of steers
each year for the market They could
get their work out of such cattle in
year besides enough more to paw for
keeping them. They would sell them for
from S. to 81. so per hundred live weight
easily. Could the western beef raisers
compete with this, counting transporta.
ton and everything else?
The western stock raiser cannot raise
beef on the hoof for less than s4 hun
dred weight, and in addition he has to
pay the freight charges. It seems to
me that the Maine farmers can meet this
western competition easily and in few
years give the people in Maine beef of
New England states.
FEED GROWN CHEAPLY.
Corn can be grown in Maine as we'll as
in the west. The frosts come early, but
the yellow corn, early to mature, can be
used and sufficient food raised for fatten-
ing cattle at little cost l would not ad-
vocate extensive stock farms for Maine
men. They are not necessary, although
l have no doubt that such farms properly
located and handled by experienced men
would pay handsomely in a few years.
Enough beef could be raised on cultivated
farms right here in Maine to supply the
home markets and give the farmers a
handsome margin of profit as well.
Good stock for Maine are Durhams and
or cross of these breeds
makes good beef and dairy stock. By
keeping the young stock coming the
farmer would have steers at all ages in a
few years to insure him steady and
handsome profit.
Thousands and thousands of acres of
good land await development in the
northern and eastern parts of this State,
audit is a wonder to me that it is not
taken up as fast as the timber is cut
away and turned into stock farms.
A young man can go today into this
new country or into the older parts of
the State right near Portland. obtain
good piece of land and devote his time
and attention to its proper and scientific
cultivation and make money Half the
opportunities of this State are being
by the young men who think
that fortune is only to be found in the
west and in the cities Any of the older
men can recall when the farmers of
Maine and New Hampshire used oxen
almost exclusively for farm work. They
make excellent animals for doing such
work, strong, steady and reliable. They
cost no more to feed, not as much be-
lieve, as do horses, and when the right
time comes they can be sold for beef at
fancy prices almost at the door.
Some attention should be given this
matter by the State authorities not only
here in Maine, but elsewhere. Expert
ments might be tried to prove its advan-
tages and lessons taught the young farm
ers of the State as to the raising in an
economical manner. Some time this will
all be brought about and then the west
ern beef barons will find the down east
yankee more than an insignificant COM
petitor in business.
If you want good farm you have got
to have it we'll stocked with cattle, sheep
and hogs, you can't afford to buy COM
mercial fertilizer at $40 per ton, you
must raise your own fertilizer, there is
nothing that will keep farm going like
the old fashioned barn dressing, and the
only way to get it is to raise it.
If our farmers would raise more live
stock, cows, steers, sheep, hogs and
hens, which every farmer should do, we
would have better farms and homes,
have all our beef, mutton, pork, poultry,
milk and butter raised right here in this
State, and our western beef barons would
be buying Of us at good prices.
FlOwprs Have Their Time RI PIoo,,