Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-02-05

Can he Raised on Iowa Farms and
Produce Larger Profits Than
Grain Farming.
FIELD
UNLIMITED OPPORTUNITIES
Some Valuable Information Gained
from Address Before Iowa Beef
Producers Association.

That beef cattle can be raised on
Iowa farms and produce larger prof
it's than can be secured from straight
grain farming was, in substance, the
declaration of beef specialists of the
state at the recent meetinf of the
Iowa Eeef Producers Association.
Iowa has an almost inexhaustible
field of endeavor and unlimited op-
por;Hnities for garnering the wealth
of the country in beef raising. thu
speakers asserted, and the production
of the state can be materially increas-
ed ty general movement among far
mers toward raising stock and feed
ing them the products of the soil in
stead of marketing agricultural prod
uets direct.
1T is better to market your prod
ucts on four legs than on four
wheels" is the way one of the speak
ers put his advice.
From the speeches of the experts
the beef, growing situation and pros
poets in Iowa may be summed up as
follows:
Beef cattle have decreased in Iowa
in twelve years 20 per cent.
Dry farming, irrigation aud rapid
settlement of western lands have de-
stroyed the ranges until the west is
producing only 40 per cent OF the
number of beef cattle 1t produced ten
years ago. Iowa can no longer de-
pend upon the ranges for cattle to
feed. but must produce its own beef.
Averages taken on experience OF
producers show that beef raising is
more profitable on high priced Iowa
land than atraight grain raisipg. and
that ct the same time the fertility Of
the land is destroyed to less extent
by beef raising.
There has been abundance in all
agricultural production this year, but
in live stock production we have not
come up to the same mark" says
Charles Escher, president of the as
sociation. 1.-THE supply of live stock
in 1913 will aggregate less than for
1912. It will require seven years for
the United States to get back to a
normal supply of cattle, and by that
time the population will have increas-
ed another ten millions. The short
age Is bound to continue. Next year.
and each succeeding year for the next
decade. will see decreasing receipts
In live stock markets.
Iowa has been famous as cattle
feeding state, but II Iowa continues
to hold her station In agriculture she
must get back into live stock produc-
ton. Beef market will, and of neces-
sity must, become an Iowa industry.
With 1t will come more silos. less soil
robbing. more permanent blue grass
pastures. more alfalfa and clover. and
more conservation of the fertility Of
our soils.
At least half of the 100000 farms
in Iowa ought to be producing some
sort OF beef. Each farmer could cas-
lily produce q car Of baby beef each
year which would bring him at pres
ent market prices about $4,000. Not
more than twenty-five cows would be
necessary to keep up the rate of pro-
duction and sixty-five head of cattle
would be the maximum the farmer
would have to feed at any time.
To be prosperous we must market
our crops by way of the live stock
route and keep the fertility on our
farms. Conservation is a prime fac
tor of importance today. We have
learned how to raise the crops best
adapted to our soils and climate, but
we lave not learned that we must re-
turn to our land part of what we
take out. 1t is not a question of fat
tening cattle, but the growing of beef
that we are most especially interested
in. Corn belt farmers must awaken
to the fact that II they expect to han
die cattle they must breed them. The
Pacific coast will grab the major por-
tion Of our range bred cattle from
now on. II we wish to produce beef
we must raise our own feeders.
Prof. w. j. Kennedy of the Ames
extension department discussed in de-
tail methods Of profitable beef rails
ing. He. too, emphasized the needs
OF more beef cattle. There are two
profitable plans of raising beef cattle,
he said: To raise them on the milk
Of the cow and feed them we'll from
the start until they are 16 to 1S
Continued on page 81