Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-05-23
LIVESTOCK RUNS
BEHIND IN j. s.
Ranges Now Farms-Stock Asso-
citation Head Points Out
Changes in Five Years.

We" YORK May l6-N lIllam Il. SKIN
ner of Denver, president of the Inter-
rational Livestock Exposition assoca-
lion. says conditions in the livestock
world are deplorable. This view is en-
dorsed by ". r. Goodwin managing
sditor OF the Breeders Gazette.
We have got into bad shape in this
country through not having been pre-
pared for the period through which we
passed during the last five years." said
MIR. Skinner. Il mean the farming of
The range. In other words. the range has
Utmost entirely disappeared and most of
the land formerly given over to grazing
has been settled by farmers The farm
fr has not yet adjusted himself to live
stocll growing.
I'm the Panhandle of Texas they used
TO produce 10000 to 4CJ,wU caves a year
TO be taken to the northern ranges. This
part of the country has been totally
eliminated from the breeding business
md has been taken up by farmers who
hre endeavoring to raise cotton. At the
game time the ranges where this cattle
used to he shipped for double winterng
ar grazing mas passed into the hands of
farmers In sufficient numbers to destroy
the value of the northern range as a
grazing proposition.
I'VE have been marketing for the last
six or seven years cows and heifers and
calves until have reduced the posi-
biity of growth in the industry. In the
meantime while this has been going on,
our population has been increasing at an
enormous rate Of 100000 a year. The
two things together have brought us In
1ve-year period from our boosted position
as a worlds food supply nation to a con-
dition where our imports of foodstuffs ex-
coed our exports.
OTHER RANGES ABANDONED.
similar to conditions in the Panhandle
of Texas are those in certain other parts
Of the country where livestock was once
the main product. New Mexico has gone
TO raising citrus fruits and Oklahoma
into extensive agriculture, what was once
the Indian Territory and three years ago
nothing but ranges being now all farmed.
I'VE are trying to get the small farmer
10 begin to raise his own herds. Areas Of
what was once farming land in our manu-
featuring districts. from here to the Mis-
souri, river, have naturally been taken up
NY industrial works and in the neighbour
hood of towns the farms have been en-
croached upon for the production OF gar
den truck This has increased the value
Of farm land adjoining. So we are now
in the position of England; we have got
to produce the stall-fed bullock and the
COW for dairy purposes, which latter must
furnish enough milk and butter to pay
her way.
Even in the East they are taking up
tais question seriously. In Pennsyl-
Sania they have Just concluded expert
ments in feeding beef cattle and winter
Ing beef COWS cheaply on siage, and the
carnegie Land and Cattle company, In
northwestern Pennsylvania, which Is de-
voting many acres TO raising livestock
has established a herd Of beef COWS for
producing feed cattle. All such effort for
the last 90 years or more had been con-
fined to the West. but people in this
part of the country are now getting more
far sighted. Just now the producers OF
dairy products and meat are up against
u because of short crops
"Why. the railway agent at little
place In Colorado told me he had ship
ped $50 carloads of alfalfa to New York
this season. What this costs here, with
freight added, may be gathered from the
fact that in the stack out there II Is now
worth $40 a ton. In the middle West they
pre- Dhf kNdIu WIN So"iHS 'HSii 'ipp9
Coming across Illinois, indiana and Ohio
noticed that in many places they had
hot yet ploughed.
PACKERS WANT BIG SALES.
"The so-caled beef trust has been a
rhoice morsel In the mouth of the cross
roads politician, who likes to raise cry
that we are being robbed by somebody
and many of us have liked to sit up
md applaud when the packing houses
have been hit. | don't hold "A brief for
the packers, nor on the other hand do
j condemn them. 1t is a fact that the
money made by the packers of late
years has come what used to be
considered the waste OF the slaughter
house This latter now gives an enor-
NOUS by-product, The law of supply
and demand governs the price of meat
1ust as anything else. Packers make
their biggest profit when their sales are
biggest The more their sales can be
extended the more money they make
Nobody hates high prices more than the
packers themselves. for the reason that
such prices curtal their sales.
"The International Live Stock Expo
tition association Is preaching the broad
propaganda of stock on the farm q
return of the farmer to stock breeding.
in order to keep on feeding people II Is
necessary to return something to the soil
for cropping, and this cattle will supply