CHAPTER XV
REASONS FOR ANIMAL
HUSBANDRY
Animal products in the United States nearly equal in value those of all other farm products. Those soil supplies which constitute the food of domestic animals are not implied. Practically every farm in the United States keeps domestic animals, either for their labor or their products, and nearly every household in both city and country keeps one or more animals for companionship. The domestication of animals has been a prime factor in the civilization of the human race by furnishing man with motive force by which he has been able to increase his productive power; by giving him a larger, better and more regular food supply; and by furnishing the materials for clothing, making it possible for him to inhabit temperate and even arctic climates. Animals have not been less important in advancing the spiritual welfare of the human race, by inculcating habits of regularity and kindliness, which the care of domestic animals imposes.
INCREASE IN ANIMAL PRODUCTION
During the last half century animals have not increased in numbers as rapidly as have the inhabitants, but the value of animals has increased much more rapidly. While a part of this increase in value is due perhaps to a greater cost of production, a couple of illustrations will suffice to show that part of this increase in value has been due to increase in the individual merit of the animals. In 1850 sheep in this country produced 2.4 pounds of wool per fleece; in 1910 they produced 6.9 pounds per fleece. Thus, while in 50 years sheep have not quite doubled in numbers, the production of wool has increased more than five times. This is a striking example of the value of improvement in breeding, because the improvement in wool production is due to the influence of heredity in far greater degree than to the effect of improved feeding. Wool, like the hair on ones head, is not greatly influenced by the food supply, assuming it to be reasonably ample. Beef cattle offer another illustration of the way in which animal products have been increased without increasing the number of animals. Formerly beef cattle were matured in their fourth and fifth years, or even their sixth year. They are now placed upon the market in their second and third years. If animals can be matured in their third instead of their fifth year, it is obvious that a much smaller number of animals must be kept upon the farm in order to provide an equal annual supply for slaughter.
The increase in the size of our horses and the increased production of butter fat per cow which have occurred in the past half century are hardly less important factors in increasing the value of domestic animals and their products.
THE FUTURE OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS
One of the most striking features of recent progress in domestic animals is the large increase in the number of horses and the still greater increase in their value. There are those who have believed that the invention of many beneficent forms of mechanical power would in time, if not in the very near future, supplant the use of animals as a motive power. The fact seems to be, however, that they merely augment mans resources and increase his opportunities without lessening his need for animal power.
It appears reasonable to suppose that there will be witnessed in the United States a gradual shifting of live stock centers. During the past half century, the great central West has been noted for the production of live stock, particularly for beef, mutton and wool, as an incident of its pioneer development. Already the production of large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep has disappeared for the central West, and is now confined largely to Texas and the mountain states. The northeastern states are unrivaled in the production of grass, and have considerable areas less fitted for tillage than the prairie states. In time, therefore, the tendency will be for the regions best fitted to rear animals to increase their numbers of breeding animals. On the other hand, those states which produce grain in relatively large abundance may give more attention to fattening animals and to the production of dairy products which can be shipped long distances. As time advances, the history of other countries will doubtless be repeated. A greater distinction between the breeding and rearing of animals, and their fattening and preparation for market will occur.
ADVANTAGES OF KEEPING LIVE STOCK
Since animals occupy a place in practically all farm organizations, it is desirable to state briefly the advantages and disadvantages which may accrue to any individual enterprise. The most striking advantages affecting the farmer are:
(1) Animals make it possible to use land that would otherwise be wholly or partly unproductive. Hillsides and mountain slopes, soil too stony to cultivate, fields traversed by winding streams, and land partially covered with trees, are familiar examples. As previously mentioned, only about one-half the farm area in this country is improved land, and only two-thirds, even of the improved land, is in cultivated crops. The other third of the improved land and a considerable portion of that half of the farm area known as unimproved land are utilized as pasture for domestic animals.
(2) They make use of farm crops which would be entirely or partially wasted. Straw, the stalks of maize, clover and alfalfa hay and other leguminous forage crops would not have sufficient value to pay for raising if animals were not kept to convert them into useful products. In fact, the usefulness of a given animal may be judged by the economy with which he converts these otherwise useless products into food or other materials for the use of man. The most profound studies are being made to determine the conditions under which this takes place.
(3) In thus acting as machines in manufacturing raw materials into finished products animals convert these coarse and bulky materials into those which are much more concentrated, thus making their transportation economically possible. A pound of beef has required food containing ten pounds of dry substance, and a pound of butter has required thirty pounds of dry matter to produce it.
These refined products may be shipped around the world, while the raw materials may not be profitably transported beyond the county in which they are raised. Moreover, the farmer has the profit which comes from manufacturing the raw materials into refined products.
(4) In the production of these finer products much of the essential materials of plant growth are left upon the farm. The experiments of Lawes and Gilbert show conclusively that in fattening animals more than nine pounds out of ten of the essential fertilizing ingredients of the food reappear in the solid and liquid excrements. Prothero says: Farming in a circle, unlike logic, is a productive process.
The fiscal policy of one of the great nations of the globe is based upon this idea. Everything possible is done by Germany to encourage the keeping of live stock, because the more live stock that is kept, the more productive will be the soil. The larger the crops raised the more people will be required to harvest them and the larger will be the population to recruit the army and navy. The Kaiser and the German scientist recognize that the fighting force of the Empire is related to the number of domestic animals reared. The meat supplies of the people are, therefore, taxed to bring about this end.
(5) The rearing of live stock makes it possible to arrange a better rotation of crops. A five-year and, even better, a six-year rotation, is more effective than a four-year in maintaining the crop-producing power of the soil and enables the farmer to reduce his cost of production. It is possible to keep a larger proportion of the farm in grass and other forage crops, thus reducing the amount of land plowed annually and at the same time decreasing the exhaustion of the land, provided the forage crops are fed to live stock upon the farm.
There is an old Flemish proverb which reads:
| No grass, no cattle; No cattle, no manure; No manure, no crops. |
The point of this proverb is that good grass is the basis of good agriculture. Investigations have shown that one may go farther and say that one of the most ready means of increasing the crop-producing power of the soil is by adding fertilizers to grass land. The large number of plants per acre enables the plants to utilize the fertilizer to the highest degree, and plowing under the resulting dense sod is one of the most effective methods of enriching the soil.
(6) Animals require constant care, thus making possible a more constant use of labor and other capital. The wheat farmer of North Dakota sows his wheat in April and May and harvests it in July and August. He usually threshes it immediately, and is practically without employment for himself, his teams or his men from September until April. On live stock farms the labor employed in the summer in the field is needed in the winter in paddocks and stables.
(7) The management of live stock, including the rearing of poultry and the manipulation of dairy products, may be made to require a higher skill than the production of farm crops as ordinarily practiced. The communities which have given the most attention to dairying and to the rearing and fattening of animals have generally been the most prosperous.
DISADVANTAGES OF KEEPING LIVE STOCK
(1) Keeping live stock increases the capital required to operate a given area of land, especially where animals are kept in connection with the production of hay and grain. Not only must there be capital with which to purchase animals, but usually more is invested in buildings. In a self-contained farm—that is, one which raises sufficient food for the requirements of the live stock—ten dollars an acre may be considered a moderate investment for animals. If, however, the plan is to raise only the coarse feed, while the necessary grain as well as other concentrates is largely purchased, a farm may easily carry from $25 to $35 worth of live stock per acre. Lack of capital is one of the most potent influences in preventing a larger production of animals and animal products. Cattle paper, or notes given to secure money for the purchase of fattening animals, is a common bank asset in the feeding districts of the central West.
(2) The very perishable nature of animals entails a great risk in the investment of capital in live stock. Not only the products of a single year, but the growth of a number of years, may be suddenly swept away by disease. This may include the crops of several years, thus destroying capital invested in the production of the crops as well as the capital originally invested in the animals. Many a farmer has seen the gradual accumulations of years rapidly melt away in the presence of some contagious disease. Tuberculosis in cattle, cholera in hogs and liver rot in sheep are striking examples of diseases that have caused the farmers of this country untold losses.
(3) When an animal has been properly fattened he must be sold. If held for any great length of time, not only is there a constant outlay for food to maintain the animal, but the condition of the animal may actually deteriorate. Hence it is not possible to hold animals for a better market for a long period of time, as is possible in the case of the cereal grains.
(4) Serious losses may occur where profit was expected through a rise in the price of foodstuffs. Scarcity in food supplies, due to an unfavorable season, often compels the stockman to sacrifice animals that he has been raising for two or three years. It is sometimes asserted that, although society suffers from short crops, the farmer is benefited, because the increase in price is greater than the decrease in yield. One year, for example, the decrease in the production of maize was 30%, while the increase in price was 50%. If, therefore, the crop had been sold it would have brought more than the crop of the previous year. The farmers, however, require about 80% of the maize crop in the production of their live stock, so that when there was a decrease of 30% in the yield of maize, many had none to sell, while others had to purchase maize at increased prices or use other crops, such as oats, which they might otherwise have sold. Still others would be compelled to sell, at reduced prices, their partially fattened animals. There is a constant fluctuation in the price of animals and animal products, due to variation in yield and hence in price of food supplies. It requires continual vigilance on the part of the stockman to secure food supplies at such cost as will enable him to secure a profitable return from his animals.