Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-04-01
Bismarck, Wednesday, April I, 1914
$****
!. A Future of Hogs and Hon1iny "

a ASNSC W 4AO90 uSSO A4OVGSJg4 II.
+ Carl Thingelstad OF Northwood recently dis. =
= posed of a car Of IS hogs, weighing 22,l3O +
+ pounds, and which brought over $1,000 in the =
e South St. Paul yards. They topped the mar :
+ ket, at $3.50 per hundred. :
- 80
The above statement is copied from a recent issue
of a Grand Forks paper and is but one of many SINH
lar items to be read from time to time in the state
press. 1t is quoted here to illustrate the general
breaking away from exclusive grain raising in North
Dakota and the success that can be attained by the
farmer with the right kind of initiative and intelli.
gence to tackle the live stock industry. |
In South st. Paul the best hog and cattle products
Of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota are marketed,
and the breeder who can top the days sales has
accomplished a blue ribbon feat of which he may
well be proud. The three states named have long
been known as great pork producers-lowa, the larg-~
est in the Union. North Dakota has been generally
associated in the mind Of the average United States
citizen as the home of spring wheat and the greatest
producer Of that cereal on the continent. Yet here
we have q. North Dakota farmer, a resident of one OF
the largest wheat producing counties in the state,
taking away the honors from the most formidable
competitors with whom he could he placed in CON-
petition. Nj. Thingelstad is certainly to be congrat-
ulated upon the splendid showing he has made.
The Significance of the sale for North Dakota
farmers is that what Mr.. Thingelstad has accomplish.
ed is capable of repetition by himself or other pro.
gressive farmers Of the state. Hogs mean corn, bar.
ley and other cereals besides wheat. They mean
an Increased acreage of alfalfa, the suitability Of, our
soil for which is now far past the experimental stage.
They mean the utilization Of dairy products that
might otherwise be wasted or hut partially realized
Upon. They mean, in short, a balanced farm schedule
Of crops and live stock, by the practice of which the
calculating husbandman can never be caught without
marketable produce or financially embarrassed by
reason Of a partial wheat crop failure or low scale of
prices.
It is certain that the acreage planted in North
Dakota to corn In 1914 will exceed 100000, exclusive
probably Of the large acreage which will 80 into the
numerous silos built in 1918. Alfalfa and other green
fodder crops will also show largely increased areas.
At thirty bushels to the acre, this acreage of corn
will produce some 15;Ooo,ooo bushels, of which the
greater portion will be fed to hogs, and we may con-
IDENTIFY anticipate that, In less than a year from this
writing, Iowa, Minnesota and. South Dakota farmers
will have to hustle some to keep their North Dakota
rivals from again topping the market.
An advantage which our farmers enjoy over neigh
boring states Is comparative immunity from that
scourse of the industry-hog cholera. While it is not
claimed that the disease is entirely absent " from
North Dakota, nevertheless such are our conditions
Of climate and soil and so thorough are the require
ments Of the state sanitary authorities with regard
to immunization that the fear of anything like cpl
demic conditions is a negligible quantity.
Figures in possession Of Commissioner w. c. Gil
breath OF the state department of agriculture and
labor show that the number of hogs In North Dakota
mas increased sixty per cent since 1910, while many
otner states show a falling off to the same amount.
The feat accomplished by Mr.. Thingelstad indicates
what can he done when the work is properly under.
taken. Now is the time to formulate plans for a more
extensive Investment in this branch of the live stock
business. We have the land, the men, the means and
the incentive. Let us get busy.