The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1913-01-16

form and the beds are always clean
and comfortable when plentifulIy sup
piled with bedding. In areas fait.4cr
south where the winters are mild and
the weather changeable, 1t is diIficult to
keep up steady gains because of fluctu-
atoms in appetite caused by the wealth
er. 1t is also difficult to keep the yards
from becoming miry In time of rain
which falls with much frequency fin tile
winter season. Last winter the gr and
champion steer of the International
show came from Brandon which lis far
north of Dakota and the Aberdeen "a
gus cattle given highest honors in the
breeding casses also came from above
the north line Of the North Dakota
boundary During recent weeks. cat
| tie shipped originally from Texas have
been fattened in Alberta and then sold
| In Chicago with good profits to the
owners. Why should not cattle be eA-
tensively grown for meat in North Ds
kota
Compared With Corn ReIt.
All things considered, the farmers OF
North Dakota should grow and fatten
cattle more cheapIy than the farmers
Of the corn belt. The latter have land
worth 800 to 5000 per acre The form
er owns land worth, on an average, S25.
The interest on this investment of the
/ corn belt farmer per annum is Sc. This
interest on SIS is $1.5O. This gives the
| Dakota farmer at the outset an advan-
tage amounting to say $3.50 in the land
thus used.
Food Production Compared.
The corn belt has some advantage in
the production of corn but the Dakota
farmers can also grow corn of good
quality for feeding from the bundle.
The farmer Of this corn belt has some
advantage in the growth Of pasture
and longer season for the same, but
wherein has he any other ADVANTAGE
To Offset these advantages, the North
Dakota farmer can grow more oats,
barley, and speltz for feeding, from
each acre of his cheap land, than the
other can grow from each acre of his
dear land. The farmer of North Dako-
Ia can grow much better crops of flax
so useful in feeding live stock than the
farmer of the corn belt. He can also
grow much better crops of Canadian
| field peas. He has the further advan-
tage of growing or being able to grow
better crops Of field roots, so indispen-
sable to the growing of the highest
types of cattle.
| But 1T may be objected that the corn
is indispensable to the cheap fattening
of cattle. That is not, by any. means
! true. What has been stated about the
movement of Texas cattle to Alberta
and then from Alberta to Chicago,
shows that it is not true. The ship
ments of highly finished cattle from
Canada to England more than twenty
years ago show that 1t is not true.
These shipments at one time, in sin
gle season. amounted to fully 100000
animals. They were reared and finish
ed at that time without any corn. The
Aberdeen shire farmer fattens his cat
] tie mainly on turnips and oat straw.
Il fss1as
! farmer grow cattle with much profit?
A bushel of barley on Dakota land can
be grown more cheaply than a bushel
of corn in the corn belt states and 1t is
worth nearly as much in making meat
when fed with proper adjuncts.
Fencing Is Called For.
No real progress can be made on the
4 farms of North Dakota until consid-
cradle amount of fencing has been
erected on the same The estimate
would not be far from the truth that
would place the area under fence, taxi
ing the whole state, at not more than
5 per cent, certainly not more than 10
i per cent. This does not mean that
there are no FARMS without ample fenc-
ing nor does it mean. that the number
of farms are very few that have a con-
siderable amount of fencing but it does
mean that the farmers generally have
/ farmed North Dakota under the idea
| that 1t would never become live stock
state.
In the true sense OF the term. 1t will
never become g. live stock state until
/ a large portion of the land is fenced.
! Until this is done the farming Of North
1 Dakota will never become what 1t
ought to be. Al few years ago Hun
dred Dollar an Acre club was formed
! in a certain city in North Dakota. As
L no a INN ffes n1nT -
boost the farming land until it would
| sell for 500 an acre. If the Dakota
farms were generally fenced and IL
each was also properly stocked, the
purpose OF that club would certainly be
attained. The land would sell readily
for 800 an acre without any boosting
| Ask the Dakota farmers why they do
not fence their land and many OF them
will answer that they are not able to
do so. Such an answer should be suf-
flcienti in the more newly settled areas,
but It is far from satisfactory In the
older settlements. After a man has
/ lived on farm for twenty years or
even for ten years and lis still unable
to fence his farm, that fact lis one of
the severest possible arraignments of
the system OF farming that could be
furnished II it had been the best sys-
tenn, he would have been able to fence
his farm.
Beef From Dakota Farms.
How may beef be made on Dakota.
| farms? In various ways. Stockers
may be bought on the ranges and fin-
ished on the farms. To carry on this
work extensively would mean that
| there should be a distributing point at
some centrally located place. where
such stockers could be congregated and
sold to feeders, What is there to him
der large proportion OF the farmers
| of the state to finish q bunch of cat
! tie each winter on the coarse foods
which they grow, thus greatly en-
resultant fertilizer on the farm,
Al second way would be to keep dual
purpose cows on the farm and to grow
such OF their progeny into beef as are
| not needed for the maintenance of the
herd. The best. cows for such use are
| the milking Ehorthorns and the Red
PoEs The Brown Swiss will answer
fairly well, but, are little coarse in the
bone
These cows will De MIXED and the
mil ksent to the creamery The calves
win be reared essentially on skim milk
and adjuncts during the milk period.
They will be kept on good grazing DUR
| Ing the summer supplemented by soil
ing foods such as mixed grain and corn,
and will be finished during the follow
ing winter. thus reaching the market
at the age or Is months. III they come
| in the autumn, this would Involve pas-
turing for but one summer, thus max
ling the term Of pasturing short, which
best meets the adoption in the western
part Of the state with It's relatively
dry climate which is not favorable to-
the providing of abundant grazing.