Part 2

The process of culling will not be extravagant, because looking to the next few years it would seem that canner cattle will probably be as strong as any other branch of the industry, and these culls are usually not only splendid canners, but furnish quite an element of cutters, which means cattle producing very fair meat for regular consumption. I believe, too, that on any range of appreciable dimensions you will find it an economy to produce your own bulls, and in starting any good sized property I urge that you keep that in mind. Get your cows just as good as you can get them; of course pure-breds will be better, and then use only the best registered sires in that herd.

I think advisable, too, in your branding, to put the year brand on all heifers, as it will be of material assistance to you in the matter of knowing the intensification of blood during the early process. It will not be so important later on when the cattle are all very high grade.

The use of the scrub bull is an economic crime; therefore no matter what you use in the way of a sire you are pointed upward, but I feel that it will be a distinct economy to try to get seven-eighths, or at least fifteen-sixteenths sires.

Another thing which offers a great economy in your country is the possibility of dropping calves an average of about two months earlier than they do in Texas. We do not like to have a calf come before the 1st of April. I believe that you can drop yours during January and February without any trouble, judging from the average condition of your cattle in a winter said to be from early October, the most severe you have ever had. Dropping a calf at that time will have him old enough to eat your young grasses when they begin to come. He will have a two months' pull over the Texas calf; will have at least two months longer to combine nursing and grazing to deliver him the first of November.

As a summary of your breeding problem, I regard it as the simplest thing you have to deal with. There seems to be a sure result by comparison with other countries; there can be little argument as to its economic value, and it is simply a matter of disposition and making the proper investment in inclosures, in bulls and water development to accomplish a good business result.

I only want to add this fragment as to breeding. Since dictating this section I chanced to meet at lunch today Mr. Will Goodwin, for thirty years one of the officers and managers of the Breeders' Gazette and one of the best authorities in the world on cattle. His winter home is near Ocala, Florida, and he has seen enough of your ranges to convince him of their great utility in beef production. He agrees with me that the evolution of your cattle is simply a matter of disposition. I find, however, that he has no use for the Brahma bull, although he joins me in the belief that you can not do anything to hurt the present breeding process, and he rather grudgingly admits that the Brahma bull may have a place in scale. I reviewed with him at some length what has preceded and asked him what he thought about my comparison with the Texas primitive cattle as to having more scale. He thinks I am right in that connection, but says that he believes the Florida cow is more shapely; that she has a better hindquarter than the old Texan cattle, and is, in a sense, a miniature Shorthorn, and that he believes that a cross between a Shorthorn and a primitive Florida cow will give you the best basis.

I called his attention to the fact that in range experience neither the Blacks nor the Shorthorns seem to be able to make their own living as well as the Herefords and do not get the calf crop, and he was quite free to say that it had a little force. On the other hand, he confirms fully my belief that where a better class of protection can be offered than the vast ranges, the Shorthorn cross and the cross with the Blacks either on primitive cows or their cross will have splendid results.

He also called my attention to the prominence that Blacks are getting in Florida.

There is, therefore, a very wide range of possibilities in your breeding problem, all of it pointed upward, and there may be something in your experience here which will show that the Shorthorn and Black have a greater mission on the open range than they had in Texas. There certainly can be no question about the value of the blood.

And here I might add that the Government is not asking any one to increase beef production from a patriotic standpoint, but rather that it offers a splendid investment. And perhaps I might add that when our boys who have gone into the army come back again they will practically all be trained athletes; men seasoned to the out-of-doors and loving it; men who have obtained an earnestness in life and a new vision as to usefulness, and when you stop to reflect that we have been sending the flower of the world to the front, when it comes back to us we will not only have the attributes I have described, but the flower of the world to apply them, and I look for an increased interest in all of the out-of-door lines of business such as America has never seen before.

I thought I knew something of my own country and something of the possibilities of land available for cattle production, but seeing your ranges has been a revelation. They are off the track of the tourist. There is sparse settlement, and they are known to very few. In fact, they might be, in a sense, called a hidden country, but the whole of America is interested in everything that offers a good agricultural or stock-raising possibility, and when our boys come back, not only the boys of the South, but the boys of America are going to investigate your properties.

I promised to come back to water development. Practically every question that I have asked in the main about water has been covered by the reply, "Water everywhere." Much of your area is watered by rivers and lakes, and where good surface water is not easily available for stock, your well water is so easily obtainable and at such small investment you can afford to have it every two miles over the entire country.

I am told that the windmill will furnish ample production, and at that narrow depth the light mills, which go well in a light wind, are available. We have found it very valuable, however, to use the one and a half horsepower gasoline engines, and from that pumping supply as our live stock demanded, because you must keep water constantly before the cattle. Cattle become accustomed to watering at one place, and if there is no water they will stand around and wait for the mill to pump.

Without attempting to go into details, you should have a proper water storage at each mill. It is small expense, and with a storage tank and a windmill it would be cheaper than a gasoline engine.

It is always customary in our country to put salt around the water holes. I find, as a proposition, your cattle do not have salt at all, and it is very much needed in their development. Over some areas there is no lime, and there it would probably be wise to combine salt and lime, which can be very easily done by using a compressed cake, not rock salt. It may take these primitive cattle some time to learn how to lick the salt, but the next generation will be there all right, and it will have its influence in their development.

It is my observation that under a proper development of water, a fenced area and proper subdivision fences permitting the protection of one pasture for winter purposes, forcing the cattle out in summer upon areas best adapted to that season, that Florida lands will carry from two to three times the number of cattle that the average Texas range does.

I find, too, that a great deal of the range offers a splendid hog feed from the cabbage palm, the seed of the palmetto and from the mast found in the shinnery. It would seem, therefore, that an appreciable number of hogs may be produced without extra cost on most Florida ranges. While they will not sell for the top prices unless fattened on some concentrate, they bring a very fair figure as against combined result and overhead charges, and should be a big factor in revenue and one that we do not have in Texas.

Your lands are singularly free from pests. To illustrate, it cost us something over $75,000 to kill prairie dogs on about 450,000 acres of Texas lands, and outside of the shinnery lands the great bulk of Texas lands have been populated with prairie dogs, which in bad times take at least one-third of the grass. You do not seem to have the screw worm, which bothers us a great deal in very wet weather.

You can own your posts at a comparatively small cost and with normal prices of wire I should say could construct your fences for three-fourths of what it costs us. You have no very long drives for your cattle when shipping them, and in the matter of winter help to your cattle it will cost very little as compared with what we have to spend in Texas. To give you an idea, we are buying $50,000 worth of feed to winter a herd of 25,000 head of cattle. While your season here will permit you to get through with very little extra cost, if any, I think that you should make a provision for some concentrate, so as to have it. In Texas, when the grass is all gone, the use of cotton seed cake is limited when not taken in conjunction with a good filler, and there is never a time when you at least don't have a good filler. It is simply a matter of getting a little concentrate on it and cutting out the weak cattle and concentrating them to such winter help.

You are right where we were in '82--large areas of land, in which our problem was to make them carry themselves without cost, or pay a small interest until such time as they would sell at good value. We had very low values on cattle, long distances from the railroads--in fact, every possible disadvantage, but these lands have always paid for taxes and overhead expenses and have always given us a little something in addition, and are at a point now where they pay us a very good net interest on $10.00 land and $70.00 cows. We probably could sell every acre that we own at a price which would give us more net money than we get from the cattle business, but our people consider it a mighty good back-log to have lands which were almost without value brought up to that value and to their earning capacity.

I think that if you go into the cattle business you should study very carefully the possibility of disposing of the calf at weaning time. That is something you will have to grow to. The Government is authority for the statement that the economical production of beef is the calf, taken at weaning time, not allowed to go back, but kept coming in the matter of feeding, and if this calf is to be taken at that age, you can run twenty per cent more cows on your range, producing an average of fifteen per cent more calves, as against developing a steer to the three or four year old period, in which his individual gain is your revenue in the matter of a carrying charge. I believe, too, you will find it an economy to dehorn these calves at branding time. It can be done with practically no loss of blood. The animal is well in a very short time. I think he develops better and he certainly sells quicker.

Packers have immense contracts, and if the war continues they must have lots of tinned beef. On the other hand, if the war stops the world must stock up again with tinned beef. We know that they expected to pay an average of at least one cent per pound more for their canners the past year, but that the great drought has forced so many cattle in, the owners were very thankful to take what they got and the packers were forced to their capacity to attempt to handle them in such quantities. We know that the calf crop of Texas next year will probably show a decrease of twenty-five per cent, and that if rain comes in time to give good spring grass that a farmer will pay anywhere from ten to twenty-five per cent more in Texas than any other part of America. It would not surprise me at all to see your Florida cattle shippped over to Texas. We know, too, that next year, instead of the normal number of cows coming in in the culling process, which find their average market as canners, it will be the disposition of every ranchman to hold back cows which would ordinarily go into the culls in order that his ranch may be brought up sooner to re-stocking.

I would urge all of you to get your fences up and buy as many cattle as you can handle, because the she-stuff is going to be higher. This is particularly true of the she-stuff which has been selling at the values of Florida primitive cattle.

FORAGE CROPS FOR FLORIDA.

(_Address delivered before the Florida State Live Stock Association, January 9, 1918, by Prof. C. V. Piper, Agrostologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C._)

For many years I have been interested in the problem of more and better forage for the South, because it has long been evident to students of agriculture that sooner or later there would be an important live stock industry developed in the South. The present greatly increased interest of Florida, and, indeed, of the entire South, marks, I believe, the beginning of this epoch. Several economic incentives have conspired to bring about the present active interest and development. Chief among them, perhaps, were: First, changes necessitated by the spread of the cotton boll weevil; and, second, the present high range of prices for live stock--prices that in all probability will be little, if any, reduced for many years to come.

Another incentive that must, however, be recognized was the desire of enterprising men to develop the latent resources of the South, not only as an attest of their economic faith, but also from the patriotic motive of helping the nation in this period of stress.

As an indication of the extent of this movement I may state that within the past two years over thirty extensive live stock enterprises have been launched, all in the piney woods region of the Southern States. Most of these companies have ample capital, and most of them are proceeding along conservative lines.

The future development and prosperity of this industry must rest upon a thorough knowledge and proper utilization of the forage crops adapted to the region. In very large measure these forages are quite different from those used in the portions of the United States where animal husbandry is most developed. From a practical standpoint we cannot use in the South the forages of the North and West, with the important exception of corn. The other great forages--timothy, red clover, alfalfa, blue grass and white clover--can never become important in Florida. This fact needs emphasis, because the newcomer in Florida is often carried away with the idea that these forages may be made to succeed.

In the beginning of this active live stock development it is unfortunate that there is not a larger body of exact data concerning both the culture and feeding value of the more important forages available. There is a large amount of such information concerning corn, timothy, red clover, alfalfa, blue grass and white clover, not only in America, but also in Europe. Furthermore, countless live stock farms exist where the practical utilization of these forages has been worked out in detail. In comparison, our stock of knowledge concerning Southern forages, both from experimental investigations and from practical experience, is relatively small. This is not surprising, because the experiment stations have very properly been compelled to devote their energies mainly to assisting agricultural industries in proportion to their existing importance, rather than to industries in which there was relatively little interest. In this matter of Southern forages I have long advocated much more generous support on the part of the State and Federal agricultural agencies, because I have great faith in the future possibilities.

With the magnificent start that has now been made in live stock farming in the South, we may hope for much more generous support to live stock and forage investigations, but this hope will be realized only if we are insistent in our demands. The knowledge thus to be obtained is fundamental, and the progress that is made in live stock raising will be conditioned in an important measure on the accurate investigations that can be conducted only at properly equipped experiment stations.

One other angle of these general considerations must not be overlooked. The northern or western man who may be considering developing a live stock ranch in the South naturally wants to see developed ranches in which the practical problems have been worked out. In all the South there are very few cattle ranches which have reached a finished state of development--where the concrete demonstration exists of a type of management that can be duplicated.

Now, of course, I am fully aware that Florida and all the South has long had an extensive cattle industry based on the natural grasses of the prairies and of the piney woods. In general, this has been a profitable industry, especially on free range. Without hurting anyone's feelings, we will, I think, agree that this has not been a very high grade of live stock ranching. Indeed, the ordinary Northern or Western man, who is, of course, a superficial observer, has gotten the idea from the scrub cattle and razorback hogs that he saw, that there is something in the South that is inimical to good live stock. Usually he has decided it is the climate. Fortunately we know from the work of every Southern experiment station, as well as of a few good live stock ranches, that the South can raise just as good cattle and hogs as the North. It isn't a matter of climate, at all, but purely one of _breed_ and _feed_.

I have spoken thus candidly because I feel that I am a friend among friends, and because I have very much faith in the industry you represent. If I were not so optimistic as to the future of the live stock industry in Florida I should be afraid to lay bare any weak factors that exist. I believe with Huxley in the wisdom of facing things as they are, rather than indulging in make believe.

Perhaps it will be most helpful in discussing the forages adapted to Florida to proceed from the viewpoint of the man starting a cattle ranch. The basis, of course, of any profitable cattle ranch is permanent pasturage, the cheapest of all feeds, and, to supplement this, a supply of feed, which may be hay, ensilage, or in Southern Florida, green feed, to bridge over the season of short pastures. If one is to produce highly finished beef, grain feeds and other concentrates must be raised or purchased.

In discussing pasturage it will be convenient to recognize three types of lands, namely, piney woods, prairie, and mucks, realizing, of course, that this is a very rough classification.

Piney Woods Lands.

In the piney woods the natural pasturage is composed mainly of broom sedge and wire grasses. During the growing season, from spring till late fall, these grasses furnish fair pasturage, but through the rest of the year they merely enable animals to exist. What can be done towards converting these poor native pastures into good permanent pastures? There are three possibilities in the light of our present knowledge. On better soils good Bermuda pastures can be developed, or where the lands are moist, as on most flatwood areas, carpet grass may be used. On the drier and poorer soils, Natal grass is the only one that has given much success.

How can Bermuda or carpet grass pasture best be established? The sure method is to stump your land and plow it, and then plant the Bermuda by the vegetative method in spring, or any time thereafter in summer, during the rainy season. At the McNeill station in Mississippi, located on land much like that of the northern tier of counties in Florida, they have developed the following method: Plow furrows about ten feet apart between the stumps in spring, and stick in a root or sprig of Bermuda about every ten feet. At McNeill it is found necessary to use a little fertilizer to insure the growth of these Bermuda plants. During the following winter the stumps are removed, and then in spring the land is plowed and Lespedeza seed sown. Enough Bermuda has grown in the furrows to insure a stand of Bermuda, and this is supplemented by the Lespedeza. Indeed, the first season the Lespedeza will furnish more pasturage than the Bermuda. Lespedeza is rather a tricky plant in Florida and is hardly worth consideration except in the northern part of the State.

On most of the Florida flatwood soils carpet grass is much more aggressive than Bermuda, and in time will, if left alone, completely replace the Bermuda. To a large extent this can be obviated by plowing the pastures whenever the carpet grass seems to be obtaining the upper hand. Unfortunately, we do not know the relative values of equal areas of Bermuda grass and of carpet grass where the latter is most aggressive. Carpet grass does not grow so tall, but is green for a longer period. It may, indeed, be found more economical not to try to save the Bermuda after the carpet grass crowds it. From observations, I am inclined to believe that neither the carrying capacity nor the feed values per acre of the two grasses is greatly different on most flatwood soils. If this be true, it would not be economy to go to any particular trouble to retain the Bermuda instead of the carpet grass.

At McNeill the pasturage on areas that have long been closely grazed is carpet grass. Unfortunately, no experiments have been conducted to compare these two grasses as to ease of establishment and as to carrying capacity. Carpet grass produces abundant good seed, and therefore spreads much more rapidly than Bermuda, which rarely produces seed in humid regions.

It is found necessary to remove the stumps at McNeill, because for the first year or two on the plowed ground, weeds, especially "fennel" or "Yankee weed," appear abundantly, and must be mowed or they will kill the grasses by shading. Mowing with the stumps on the land is impracticable, as the weeds conceal many of the stumps.

Whether it is practicable to establish good permanent pastures without stumping and plowing the land is yet an unsolved problem. About every Florida settlement where the town cattle graze, there is good pasture, commonly carpet grass. You will find just this on the outskirts of Jacksonville. Such pasturage has been established by heavy continuous grazing, under which conditions the broom sedge and wire grass are exterminated, while the creeping carpet grass comes in and persists. It may be that the manure of the animals is also a factor, and there can scarcely be a question that the trampling helps. As an example of this kind occurs about nearly every Florida town, it would seem as if it could be duplicated on cattle ranches. I have suggested to several cattlemen that it is worth trying on a scale by three methods: (1) Simply burning the native grass in winter; (2) burning, followed by disking or harrowing; and (3) plowing among the stumps.

If possible, carpet grass seed should be scattered on each area, and in all cases close grazing should be practiced. Unfortunately, carpet grass seed cannot be secured commercially, except in small quantities at high prices, but it is easy to cut the mature carpet grass in fall from a pasture and cure the hay. The carpet grass can then be sown simply by scattering the hay. Whether any of these schemes will work out satisfactorily still remains to be determined.