Canada To-day and To-morrow

by Arthur E. Copping

I now come to the matter of cattle. And here let me say that the English or Scotch farmer will gain an excellent idea of Canadian conditions if, taking his balance sheet for a year, he will remodel it on the supposition that he has no rent, interest, or tithe to pay, and only a merely nominal taxation, in respect to a holding of one hundred and sixty acres or more, and on the further supposition that he has the free use of excellent and unlimited grazing outside that holding. To do this is to translate farming profits secured in one part of the British Empire into farming profits obtainable in another part of the British Empire. Indeed, the difference between the United Kingdom and Canada, from the agriculturist’s point of view, is this: in the former country he is allowed to use the air, sunshine, and rain for his private profit free of charge; while in the latter country he finds another natural element also given away, and he no more has to reckon with a landlord than with an airlord or a rainlord.

Having owned and tended a cow or two in my time, and having a fondness for those beasts, I found myself regarding the prairie herds with a keen interest, and an interest not wholly free from jealousy. Grain-growing with up-to-date machinery on ample new acres that harbour few weeds and need no manure, was a sufficiently tantalising contrast to the elaborate methods necessary in an old country where land is precious and in need of costly fertilisers. But it was hard for an Essex small-holder to keep his temper on noting the simple, not to say automatic, lines on which kine may be kept in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. At least one cow will generally be retained on the homestead, and be duly milked, so that the farmer’s wife may make puddings, and her children grow sturdy on an unstinted supply of cream and butter; but often enough the herd is permitted to look after itself and roam at large on any unappropriated and unfenced land, drinking from rivers and growing fat on the nutritious prairie grass. I spoke to some farmers who confessed that, during the greater part of the year, they never see their cattle and have no definite knowledge of their whereabouts. Every farmer has his distinctive registered brand, and, before permitting his animals to depart on their wanderings, he sees to it that each bears the mark that will establish and safeguard his ownership. Where calving takes place in a herd out on free range, the unbranded youngsters will run with their mothers, and so remain within the pale of proprietorship.

“What a waste of milk!” was my comment. “Oh,” the prairie farmer has replied, “I can’t be everlasting rounding up the bunch to milk ’em. Then look at the daily bother of sending the stuff into town. No, sir, wheat is my line, and it pays me best to look after the land. Of course, the beef end of it is different. I don’t mind driving a score or so of fat beasts to market now and again, and it’s a few hundred dollars easily earned.”

But I will no further pursue the thread of my personal experiences, since I have designed that this chapter shall contain comprehensive data, bearing the stamp of high authority, concerning farming on the prairie.

With regard to cattle, then, Mr. Roblin furnished me with these particulars:

“The little Red River cow of early days—rugged, short-legged, crumple-horned, and brindled—has almost entirely disappeared. The foundations of several herds of shorthorns were laid in the early ’eighties, and the progeny of these, and of many similar herds subsequently established, have been widely distributed throughout the country. Indeed, the blood of this cosmopolitan breed now flows in the veins of most of our cattle.

“Of the special beef breeds, the Hereford and the Aberdeen Angus are fairly well represented. Where the calves run with their dams, and beef production only is desired, both these breeds, as well as Galloways, are found to answer well. They are good grazers, and mature heavy, compact carcases of the best quality. The cows, however, are not such good milkers nor so docile as shorthorns.

“Of special dairy breeds, the Holsteins are steadily gaining in favour. They are robust and large-framed, have great capacity for assimilating ‘roughage,’ and produce immense quantities of fairly good milk. Ayrshires and Jerseys have been introduced, but while the former are numerously represented in the dairying districts, the latter make no headway.

“In localities that have been longest settled, wheat has tended to displace cattle from the sweet grazing of the uplands and drive them to the lower-lying and flatter lands, where the grass is coarser and less nutritious. Consequently there has been some deterioration in the quality of the herds. But, with the adoption of more ‘intensive’ methods, including the growing of corn, clover, and lucerne, and with greater care bestowed on stabling, better results are accruing. Already there are indications that cattle-feeding is receiving due attention in Manitoba, and that cattle-raising promises to become in this province one of the most important branches of agriculture. The straw and screenings of the wheat-field, instead of being burnt, are destined to be ‘marketed on the hoof,’ the manure serving to fertilise and mechanically improve the soil, thereby causing the grain crops to give a greater yield and to mature more quickly.”

From Mr. Roblin’s statement it will be seen that already, following the natural evolution of a country’s agricultural development, the more settled parts of Manitoba have entered upon the stage of mixed farming. The factors that make grain-growing so remunerative have the same influence on dairying. Manitoba, like Ontario and Quebec, is alive to the importance of co-operation in this industry, and the machinery of cream-collection and of butter- and cheese-making in factories is working on a large and increasing scale.