Great Falls tribune., 1921-01-29
days of late fall in other state

days Of late fall in other states
Generally speaking, the owners oi
cattle have not fed any hay at al
up to date and livestock is in good
condition. A year ago at this time
most Of these men were about Out
Of hay and were having an anxious
time with their bankers to get
money to import hay from Mime
sofa and other states to keep their
stock alive. They had been feed
ing three or four months at this
time last year. They had to keep
on feeding until May. Naturally,
that experience made deep dent
in them and a deep dent in their
bank rolls. The stockInen Of Mon
tana pretty nearly went broke last
year buying hay. So this winter
they took care to be we'll supplied
with hay and cut down the size OF
their winter herds to be sure they
would have enough. And, behold.
we have had another exceptional
winter and no need for the ample
stores of hay and feed they had
provided.
Under these circumstances lot
of stockmen and farmers who have
an excess supply Of hay are anxi-
Gus to turn it into cash and they
have appealed to the railroads to
give them half rate or reduced
rates on shipping out hay from
this state, just as the railroads
gave them reduced rates last year
in shipping hay into Montana. And
the railroads have responded to the
request and made the reduced rates.
We hope it will aid the owners of
hay to get some money out Of their
surplus stacks, though we have
some doubts about it. The fact
seems to be that there is no wide
market for hay this year anywhere
within reach Of the Montana farm
ers. 1t has been a mild winter all
over the west and it was a pretty
good hay crop year in those sec
tions also. If any large amount
were to be shipped from Montana
it might very we'll break the
market SO that they would realize
very little for their hay. How
ever, we will see how this theory
stacks up against the facts when
hay shipments begin, if they do
begin, under the reduced freight
rates.
As a matter of fact the surplus
hay stacks of Montana could be
turned into cash much more surely
and effectively by shipping stock
in to eat it here rather than ship
ping hay out of the state. Those
stoekmen who have money will
doubtless adopt this plan of getting
rid of their surplus hay. The
trouble with it is that a good many
stockmen have more hay than
money these days. Cattle and
sheep are pretty cheap these days
and a stack Of hay put in the
bellies Of stock will produce more
money next fall than it will if baled
and put on a freight car consigned
to some other state. We would
rather see a reduced rate on the
railroads for cattle shipped into
M ontana to eat up Our surplus hay
than on hay shipped out. The
state is rather short Of cattle just
now, but they are obtainable in
other states if the cash or credit
is available to purchase them with.
Then a hay stack can be kept
over tor another year IN most cases.
That is especially true of Wild hay,
such as most cattlemen put up.
No doubt a good many of them
will do this very thing, especially
where they are some distance from
4 railroad. That will have a ten
iency to increase the price OF
young cattle next fall, for a good
many people will be wanting to
increase their winter herds in order
% eat up their held-over stock of
lay, especially if we have another
good hay year next summer.