The Project Gutenberg EBook of Florida: An Ideal Cattle State, by
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Title: Florida: An Ideal Cattle State
Author: Florida State Live Stock Association
Release Date: September 24, 2010 [EBook #33972]
Language: English
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FLORIDA An Ideal Cattle State
Copyrighted 1918 by
THE FLORIDA STATE LIVE STOCK ASSOCIATION
P. O. Box 1181
Jacksonville, Florida
Foreword
_By W. F. Blackman, Ph. D., LL. D._
_President of the Florida State Live Stock Association,
Member of the Florida State Live Stock Sanitary Board._
Requests for authentic information as to the advantages and
possibilities of Florida for the growing of live stock, and in
particular of beef cattle, have been coming of late, and in constantly
increasing numbers, from all parts of the country.
This booklet has been compiled for the purpose of providing this
information.
The gentlemen who have contributed to the volume are men of ability,
long and successful experience in the live stock and kindred industries,
and the most trustworthy character. Several of them have been engaged
for many years in the growing and marketing of cattle on a very large
scale in Texas, and have recently made a prolonged and close study of
Florida conditions. The report of their findings is of the utmost
interest.
Prof. C. V. Piper, agrostologist of the Bureau of Plant Industry,
Department of Agriculture, Washington, is recognized as the foremost
authority on Southern grasses and forage crops. We are indebted to him
for permission to make use of the valuable address on this important
subject which was made by him at the recent annual meeting of the
Florida State Live Stock Association.
A study of these papers will make it evident, I believe, that Florida
possesses a number of advantages for the profitable growing of live
stock greater than those to be found elsewhere; among these are a mild,
equable and healthful climate, comparative freedom from animal diseases,
a long grazing season, vast areas of cheap lands, a soil adapted to the
growing of numerous improved grasses and forage crops (especially such
legumes as the velvet bean, the cow pea, the soy bean, the vetches, the
indigenous beggar-weed, the peanut, and certain clovers), a copious and
well-distributed rainfall, and countless springs, streams and lakes,
providing almost everywhere an abundant and unfailing supply of pure
water.
There can be no doubt, I believe, that Florida will take a leading place
in the near future among the important live stock states of the Union.
What she needs is additional thousands of intelligent, energetic,
thrifty and experienced farmers, who will take advantage of the
opportunities she offers and develop to the full her immense and latent
resources.
Lake Monroe, February, 1918.
POSSIBILITIES OF BEEF PRODUCTION IN FLORIDA.
_By Frank S. Hastings, Manager of the S. M. S. Ranch,
Stamford, Texas, who spent two weeks studying conditions in
Florida just previous to the Sixth Annual Convention of the
Florida State Live Stock Association, at which he was one of
the speakers. These impressions have been prepared by Mr.
Hastings for the benefit of the cattle men of Florida._
Before coming to the State I asked that I might see as many classes of
cattle as possible and in as many different parts of the State as
possible.
My first trip was through the Everglades. I then made a trip near
Gainesville, and visited the registered Hereford herd owned by Mr. N. A.
Callison; also the grade herd of both Herefords and Shorthorns owned by
Mr. A. L. Jackson of Gainesville, and the pure-bred and graded Shorthorn
herd owned by Mr. S. H. Gaitskill of McIntosh. Then followed a four
days' careful trip over the properties and herd of the Kissimmee Island
Cattle Company, where I saw Brahma cattle, Hereford cattle and Shorthorn
cattle in various grades, and their herd of Florida cattle bought last
year. Then over the Indian Prairie country, the Osceola prairie country,
including Halpatioka Flats, the marsh country of Okeechobee, with an
unusually good opportunity for seeing the cattle scattered over the open
range and to observe conditions on the open range.
Incident to this great expanse, comprehending over six hundred miles in
actual auto driving, I did not see a single windmill, or other
artificial means of furnishing water, although I am told that on not a
single acre of that entire property is there any difficulty in finding
water at a depth of from ten to fifty feet. I shall come back to this
item, only pausing here to call your especial attention to the fact that
over this vast area of undeveloped water conditions, water can be
supplied at a very small cost sufficient to increase the carrying
capacity of the range at least several hundred per cent, and as against
developing a similar water supply over the average Texas pasture
country, it can be done at twenty-five per cent of the cost in Florida
as against the Texas cost.
Probably the most important thing that I saw in Florida was the
registered Hereford herd of Mr. Callison. I recall that he boasted that
in eight years they had never been given any winter help, and there were
no evidences on his property that the cattle were in any way pampered.
He had about thirty or forty of last spring's calves, which he was just
weaning, and they were as good, on the average, as any bunch of calves I
have ever seen in the great registered Hereford producing districts. I
saw his yearlings and twos and his cows, and the entire herd shows in
general development and quality a very favorable comparison with
anything in the great breeding districts outside of distinct show herds.
If the climate of Florida can produce these registered cattle without
help and have them make a favorable comparison with cattle in the great
registered breeding grounds of other parts of America, there is no
reason why beef cattle can not be produced which, in turn, will form a
favorable comparison with those of the great pasture breeding grounds,
which, in turn, are furnishing the feeder cattle for the corn belt.
On Mr. Jackson's place we found both graded Herefords and Shorthorns in
the third generation, with splendid development and quality, and we
found in his registered or pure-bred herd of Shorthorns good quality and
development.
At the home of Mr. Gaitskill we found both pure breds and grades of good
development, and a splendid object lesson in a half-bred cow known as
"Old Blue," her dam one of the primitive Florida cows and her sire a
pure-bred Shorthorn bull. She is what might be called a blue roan, with
the blue almost black. Then we saw her daughters and their daughters,
and I think we saw a fourth generation, but either in this third or
fourth generation, I remarked to Mr. Gaitskill that he could lie a
little about that heifer, as she had absolutely every appearance and all
development of an absolutely pure-bred Shorthorn.
In this same district we learned from Mr. Jackson that graded cattle all
the way from half-breeds up to seven-eighths and in the mixed threes and
fours ages, all by registered bulls, weighed 900 pounds off grass last
fall. As near as I can obtain information, the same ages in the native
Florida steers and under most favorable conditions would probably not
weigh to exceed 600 pounds.
On this same trip Mr. Edwards of McIntosh told me that he got about half
the gain on the native steers that he does from three-quarter-bred
grades, on the same feed.
The foregoing is a practical demonstration that as far as climate,
general feeds and ordinary normal conditions are concerned, graded
cattle thrive in Florida.
It is important that I should have seen them, because I am working on
well defined and demonstrated general principles of breeding and beef
production, and they respond in every way to the foregoing.
From this time on we must reckon with the world's supply of live stock.
Without attempting to go into details, there has been a very material
decrease in it during the past ten years. We know that Europe must be
re-stocked after the war, and that the American supply is freer from
disease than that of any other country.
We know that under normal conditions the beef production of America has
not kept pace with the population, and that even without the influence
of war values of beef, stock cattle values have shown a steady increase
for the past ten years. There is, therefore, every reason to believe
that for a very long period in the future, even taking into
consideration reduced beef consumption as the result of substitutes or
every other influence, there is a reasonable expectation for strong
values and a profit on production under normal expense. I think that we
may go beyond the favorable general market and say that there will be a
better market in proportion for the intermediate grades of beef, for
grass produced beef, than for the very extreme corn-fed finish, and that
in the evolution of the Florida beef problem, the grades produced will
at least be in as great demand, and probably greater demand, than the
ultra finished class.
It is, therefore, fair to argue that the market is with the producer.
You are singularly fortunate in having a Legislature which seems in
every way disposed toward doing everything in its power to help develop
the resources of the State.
The Government believes that live stock production is its second
greatest problem, and in every possible way that it can give
co-operation is pledged to do so. In fact, I do not think that I would
have been here at all unless a high official in the Bureau of Animal
Industry had not urged me to come, in line with their work of general
development throughout the South.
Another thing, I find that Florida is very much in the public eye, and
that all the live stock journals are anxious to have anything which
touches upon increased beef production anywhere, but in the South
particularly.
With the knowledge that I might be here some time this winter, I talked
to two of the great packers about the development of the beef industry
in the South, and they both said that they thought the South was going
to come to the front very rapidly, and that either they or some one else
would undoubtedly keep pace with the development by enlarging their
present facilities or building new packing houses.
In that connection a packer loves a hog country to work in conjunction
with cattle. Without giving the topic any more than this general
statement, I can see where hog production is going to be one of the
great things in Florida, and that while in Texas we do not attempt to
produce any hogs along with our cattle, that hogs will be to some extent
a part of the great pasture problems.
In a general way, conditions are very similar in Florida now to those of
some thirty-five years ago in Texas, at which time that State was an
open range proposition. Today, with the exception of a very small strip
along the Gulf Coast, the entire State of Texas is under fence, and in a
general way has been under fence for nearly twenty years.
There has never been a time in the State of Texas in the past twenty
years when practically all of the grazing area of the State has not been
occupied, and as against the cattle carried on the open range with
practically no water development, the pastures of Texas, which are known
as the range (but the word range in Texas means large bodies of inclosed
land), are carrying several hundred per cent more cattle than at that
time.
The thing which in Texas led to great hardships alike to the large
pasture owner and to the settler himself was the fact that so much of
the land did not lie in solid bodies. I judge that in the main there is
much less of this in Florida than in Texas, and that either by
partition, or purchase, or auxiliary lease, the great bulk of that
complication can be handled.
And that brings me to the principle of fencing, which I think may be
covered under the general heading of Control. First, it means defined
ownership, which is always recognized. It means fire control, because it
eliminates the wantonness which we now find all over your open range,
each man working out his problem and firing the range for various
causes.
Fencing means that an area may be developed to its capacity. For
instance, on your ranges fire kills the various varieties of the carpet
or blanket grass and kills the little blue cane, as well as any number
of other grasses, all of which, however, come back where an area is
protected, and as they are among your very best feeds, the carrying
capacity of a pasture is materially increased.
Water may be developed through the windmill process directly in
proportion with the needs of the cattle and concentrated to them as
against any water development on the open range.
It is a scientific fact that eradication of the tick may be accomplished
by resting a pasture for a certain time. Fencing means the concentration
of that area to the best bulls as against not only their mixture with
the scrub bulls on the open range, but the fact that the old Spanish
fighting blood in the scrub bull materially reduces the effectiveness of
the higher class bull. Fencing means that if on any favorable areas you
wish to introduce any of the wonderful grasses which the Department of
Agriculture is showing can be spread very rapidly, it can be done
concentrating to ownership.
Fencing means that lands which are now being occupied by some one else
without revenue, but at an expense, may be made to either pay a fair
interest on the investment of land, improvements and cattle, or at least
a rental revenue which will take care of taxes, interest on improvements
and become a net economy, as against the open range.
I believe, too, that the principle will stand that a property defined by
fences immediately takes on increased value; that the buyer would pay
more for it per acre defined than looking at it in the abstract as part
of the open range.
I do not think that in the whole State of Texas you will find a single
land owner, who has fenced his ranches, who does not know that it has
been done at a splendid profit.
You begin your problem with a tick-wide eradication law, which Texas has
only had a very short time. You begin it at a time when the Government
and most of the tick-infested states are releasing thousands of square
miles every year, and at a time when both science and every practical
observer understands it as an economic measure, which may be pursued
with practically no detriment or danger to the cattle. I think that we
probably dipped in the neighborhood of a million cattle, considering the
number of times that they were dipped, and we did not lose a total of
fifty head from all causes.
Eradication means larger cattle in better condition on the same feeds
and a less mortality. It means that they can go anywhere in America
without restriction; or, in other words, a broader market and no
punishment just before shipment. I do not think that the perpetuity of
the tick can be defended from any economic standpoint.
I want to take up the breeding section, first with reference to what
your cattle represent and a comparison with primitive cattle in other
countries. I am advised on reliable authority that forty years ago the
only ready money in this country came from the cattle men who either
topped their bulls and took them to Cuba, or the Cubans came here and
topped them, taking the very best sires that you produced for sport and
slaughter. You have, therefore, for forty years been grading down, as
far as the sire is concerned.
In the matter of the cows, there has been no culling, added to which
there has been in-breeding, and on both the sire and dam side following
out the law that evil qualities intensify in posterity, the tendency has
been down instead of up in the breeding of native cattle for forty
years, to which the only relief has been a very limited introduction of
the beef strains.
In addition to this, the cattle have been infested with ticks, and every
evil influence that could arrest their development seems to have had a
good chance at them, and yet in spite of all this I find them on the
whole much better than I had expected.
I have been trying to make a comparison between them and the primitive
cattle of Texas, which I have known for fifty years, as they were
pastured next to my father's farm in great quantities when I was only
seven years old and long before there was any process of improvement. I
think the Texas cattle had greater scale, but from all I can learn I do
not believe they had any greater vitality. I think, on the whole,
though, that in evolving a race of cattle you have a little further to
go than Texas had.
Mr. Alvin Sanders, Editor of the Breeders' Gazette, in his book, "The
Story of the Herefords," traces very carefully the first introduction
of blooded bulls to the Texas and Western ranges, and forty years,
certainly forty-five, is as far back as that influence began. My own
people began on primitive Texas cattle in 1882, but from that time used
only full-blooded sires, about ninety per cent Hereford and about ten
per cent Shorthorn, and only about three years after I went with them
sixteen years ago, I took selected calves from their herd to Chicago and
won grand sweepstakes for feeder cattle with them against all
competition from all sections of the United States. When I went to the
S. M. S. herd I found a wonderful lot of breeding cows, the bulk of them
at least fifteen-sixteenths and only requiring a vigorous culling
process to bring them to a remarkably high standard.
I was identified with Mr. Kirk Armour during the great progress in
grading up Texas herds in the '90's, and it was noticeable in the stock
yards that in a short space of about six years there was an absolute
change in the general run of cattle from the ranges to the yards from
primitive cattle to cattle showing very appreciable improvement, and in
twelve years the longhorn had become a scarcity; he was practically
extinct in 1900.
Argentina during the same period evolved from a primitive race of cattle
one which will compare very favorably to that of America in its
up-grading. The other South American Republics have been slower, but
between Argentina and America two demonstrations have been given within
my own lifetime of a race of cattle absolutely redeemed from the
primitive to practically full-bloods, and that the first twelve years of
that work has resulted in animals showing fifty per cent increase in
weight under the same conditions, a much higher degree of meat in the
rib and loin and round, with an immense improvement in their instinct
for putting on weight on the same feed over the primitive cattle.
I am simply taking these generally demonstrated laws of breeding to
apply to your conditions. I am sure that by using good sires you will
find an immense improvement in three years; that in six years it will be
a revelation, and that in twelve years you will have a race of cattle
for which the world will make a path to your door.
To arrive at this process I must first disclaim any thought of urging
any particular breed upon you. On the other hand, I could not be fair to
the problem without calling your attention to the fact that the Hereford
has been the redeemer of the great Western ranges. I am sure, however,
that the greater the degree of purity that you use in him, up to at
least a seven-eighths, will be shown in the result.
I find that there is some prejudice against the Hereford in Florida, but
as far as I can follow it they apparently got a very low grade of
bulls--I am inclined to think not over half-breeds, and then, too, they
found they didn't get any more at that time for the better grades than
they did for the others.
The limitation of the Hereford is that in the first cross between a
pure-bred and any of the primitive cattle ninety per cent will show
white faces or dominant characteristics, and just so in the use of
bulls, the animal may not have the intensification of blood that he
should have simply because he has a white face, and the bull peddler
has, as a proposition, bought something that he could sell at a profit,
rather than in following out any visions of cattle improvement.
I can not urge you too strongly to know absolutely the breeding strength
of anything you buy, and that means in a general way that you must buy
known cattle. I realize, too, that there is a great shortage of bulls,
and probably the only way that you can get what you want, because it
goes without saying that you can not afford to pay the price for
registered bulls in all your work, is to work in some way through a
central community of interests, go to Texas and buy the bull calf crop
of some herd of cattle that will show fifteen-sixteenths or better
breeding. I urge this freely, because you must go below the line and
none of our own cattle are available. I believe that if you bring these
calves over here, say in November at weaning time, at the age of about
six months, and give them some good winter help, that they will
acclimate quickly, and will give you very fair returns in the yearling
period, although, of course, you can not expect from them a real
usefulness until the two-year-old period.
While the Hereford has been the redeemer of the ranges, practically
every ranch man in Texas has felt that an undercurrent of Shorthorn is
of the greatest advantage. We have used it persistently in our own work,
and feel that it has given a most appreciable contribution to the weight
and general quality of our cattle.
In the last few years the Brahma cattle have come into prominence, and
every investigation that I have made shows that they will undoubtedly
prove a great factor in the evolution of Florida cattle. They seem to be
immune to most of the pests and do not require as much in the way of
acclimatization. They show a wonderful growth in yearlings and they mark
their progeny with size and distinct characteristics in a most decided
way. The packers seem to like them; they kill out a large per cent of
beef, and while I have never had any experience with them, all my
observation has been in their favor, and I urge you to go as far as you
can in utilizing them in Florida.
I am, however, convinced that you are going to need both the Shorthorn
and the Hereford to combine with them. I am also convinced that both the
Shorthorns and the Black cattle are going to prove very valuable
adjuncts in your eventual work in the State, particularly as applied to
small areas where the cattle are not asked to live as much upon their
own resources. The experience, however, in Texas has been that the calf
crop is not as great from either of these breeds as from the Herefords.
For your information, on the S. M. S. Ranch we have averaged better than
eighty percent calf crop for the last ten years. I think that perhaps
you will find the Brahma cattle even more prolific than the Herefords. I
think, too, that in every possible way you should encourage the breeders
of full-blood cattle in all of these breeds, and that you give them
every encouragement in purchasing their progeny.
The introduction of good bulls is a comparatively simple matter, because
they can be purchased, but a great cow herd can only be produced by
accumulation, probably by a culling of at least ten per cent of all
females every year during the process of up-grading. The yearling
heifers should not be bred. We always cull them when about eighteen
months old, cutting them ten per cent. Culling should be done both from
an individual standpoint and from the standpoint of "Get." The culling
process is the most important element in beef evolution.
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.
As to Natal grass, I have already mentioned that this succeeds better on
the poorer and drier pine lands than any other grass yet introduced.
Thus far it has been exploited purely as a grass for market hay. On this
basis many hundred acres were planted in Lake County and elsewhere.
Grass culture purely for market hay is a very precarious proposition.
The proper agricultural economy is grass for live stock, selling only
the surplus to the market. Notwithstanding the very large acreage
planted to Natal, I have been quite unable to secure satisfactory data
as to its value for pasturage, measured in carrying capacity and
satisfactory gains. It seems to me, from the slender data I have been
able to secure, fairly probable that Natal will prove a valuable grass
for combined hay and pasture on the soils to which it is so well
adapted, but of course it can hardly be expected to yield enough to
justify the extravagant prices paid for land planted to Natal.
Prairie Lands.
On the prairies of Florida there is much better natural pasturage than
in the piney woods, and, indeed, it is on the prairies that the old type
of cattle industry reached its highest development. The prairies are in
reality wet meadows. Their grass cover is due to water relations, most
of them being periodically overflowed--conditions that are inimical to
pines and palmettos. On the other hand, the period of overflow is too
brief to meet the conditions necessary for cypress and other swamp
trees. These prairies stretch from the border of the pine woods and
palmettos on relatively high ground to permanently wet swamps. The best
natural pasturage consists of various species of paspalum and related
flat-leaved grasses on the soils fairly moist during a large part of the
year; and maiden cane on still moister land, or even in shallow water.
Generally speaking, the moisture relations of the more extensive
prairies are nearly ideal for continuous pasturage in the varying
seasons. There is grave danger in any extensive drainage operations, as
palmettos and pines will quickly invade such drained land, and thus
destroy the grass.
For improved pasture on these lands, particularly on those reasonably
moist, Para grass offers great possibilities. The remarkably rapid
growth and high yield of this grass, combined with its palatability and
nutritiousness, make it of prime importance in connection with better
live stock. Para succeeds well also on the better uplands, but,
generally speaking, it is a grass for moist lands. The farther south,
the more valuable it is, as after frost it is of little value.
Another grass that is likely to be very valuable on the prairies, and,
indeed, on the flatwoods and better uplands, is _paspalum dilatatum_,
native to Argentina. This is perhaps the best of the paspalums, and it
is now widespread in the Southern States. Unfortunately, with us the
seeds are largely destroyed by a fungus, but good commercial seed is
obtainable in quantity from Australia.
Muck Lands.
On the muck lands the problem of pasturage is easy. At least four
grasses, namely, Para, Carib, Rhodes and Bermuda, especially Giant
Bermuda, yield wonderfully. The enormous area of muck lands in Florida,
especially in the Everglades, can, it would seem, be utilized only with
the aid of livestock. While there may be some fairly difficult problems
to solve in handling live stock on muck soils, especially in the wet
season, there can be little doubt that grass and live stock will insure
the permanency of these lands. Under continuous cultivation there is a
constant shrinkage in muck soils, but with grass and live stock this is
nearly, if not quite, counterbalanced.
Carib grass on muck soils is, from limited data, superior to Para grass
both in yield and quality. On other types of soil Para will outyield
Carib. Rhodes grass does wonderfully on muck soil, and, indeed, on most
rich soils. Giant Bermuda is far coarser and more vigorous than ordinary
Bermuda. It will succeed wherever ordinary Bermuda will grow, and, in
addition, seems much better able to withstand flooding.
Temporary or annual pasture crops are mainly important in connection
with swine raising. Various systems of such crops have been devised to
furnish successive pastures. Florida has a long list of such crops that
can be utilized. Among them are oats, rye, rape, sorghum, peanuts, cow
peas, chufas, sweet potatoes, corn and velvet beans. Under certain
conditions the cattleman may have to utilize one or more of these crops,
but corn and velvet beans is the one that is the most important.
The story of the velvet bean is really one of the romances of
agriculture. Introduced into Florida about 1875 from some unknown
source, it first attracted attention as a forage about 1890. Until 1914
it was but little grown outside of Florida. In 1915 the crop was
certainly less than 1,000,000 acres. In 1916 it had increased to
2,500,000, and in 1917 to about 6,000,000 acres. The explanation of this
remarkable increase was the finding of earlier "sports." Three of these
appeared independently--one in Alabama, two in Georgia. These early
varieties immensely increased the area over which the velvet bean can be
grown, so that now it embraces practically all of the cotton belt. These
early sports of the old Florida are most grown, but the Chinese velvet
bean, introduced by the Department, and the hybrids developed by the
Florida Experiment Station, are important. In spite of vigorous search,
the native home of the Florida velvet bean yet remains unknown, but it
is probably in the Indo-Malayan region of Southern Asia.
The importance of the velvet bean to the live stock industry now
developing in the South can scarcely be over-estimated. Grown with corn,
it increases the corn crop year after year, and besides furnishes a
large amount of nutritious feed to be eaten by the animals when the
grass pasture season is over. It reduces greatly the cost of finishing
of beef animals for market. This year the velvet bean has been no small
factor in helping out the great shortage of foodstuffs, quantities of
them having been shipped to Texas. Finally, it has resulted in a new
industry for the South, namely, the manufacture of velvet bean meal,
which has already won for itself a large demand.
Hay Plants.
The problem of producing hay in Florida is made particularly difficult
by frequent rains, except in the fall of the year. The bulk of the hay
now produced is from the crab grass that volunteers in cultivated
fields. In recent years much Natal hay has been grown for market. Para
grass hay is of good quality, and Rhodes grass of very fine quality.
Other hays are made from cow peas, cow peas and sorghum mixed, Mexican
clover, beggar-weed, oats, millet, etc.
The subject of hay, however, is vital only to the city market. To the
live stock man it is of minor importance, as silage furnishes so
satisfactory a substitute.
Ensilage Crops.
Corn is, of course, the standard crop for ensilage, and its relative
importance in Florida is not far different from that in other States.
Under certain conditions sorghums will yield greater tonnage than corn,
and the resulting silage is but slightly inferior.
Florida possesses, in addition, a unique silage plant in Japanese sugar
cane. The perennial nature of this plant and its high yielding capacity
make it a cheap fodder to grow. It may be utilized as green feed, as
silage, as dry fodder, or for pasture. Your own experiment station has
published the best information we have on this forage. As a feed for
dairy cows there can be no question of its high value, either green or
as silage. There still seems to be question, however, as to the relative
value of Japanese cane silage as compared with corn silage. In Southern
Florida the cane stays green all winter, as a rule, so that there is no
necessity for ensiling it for winter feed. It may well prove, however,
that a supply of Japanese cane silage will prove good insurance against
periods of shortage even in South Florida.
You may have noted that all the pasture plants I have mentioned are
grasses. Very unfortunately we have not as yet any good perennial
pasture legume adapted to Florida. I say "unfortunately" because, as is
well known, the true grasses are nutritious in proportion to the
fertility of the land. That is, the better the land the more nutritious
the pasture. But with legumes no such relations exist, because legumes
are not dependent on the soil for their nitrogen supply.
While we have no satisfactory perennial pasture legume, we have one
summer annual, lespedeza, that helps to some extent in North Florida.
There are also two winter annuals that reproduce themselves in which I
have considerable confidence, namely, burr clover and narrow-leaf vetch.
I believe that on many of the better pasture soils, especially in North
Florida, that these legumes can be established and that they will
re-seed themselves year after year. Of course due care must be taken to
secure inoculation, preferably by the soil method.
The Outlook for New Forages.
What the future may hold in store for us in the way of new forages does
not assist at the present time, but it is worth considering. It is well
to bear in mind that the agriculture of the North, with the single
important exception of corn, is mainly a direct inheritance from
European agriculture. Substitute root crops for corn and you have in
essence the European practice. Southern agriculture, on the contrary, is
almost purely an American development--cotton, corn, tobacco, sweet
potatoes, from the American Indian; cow peas, Rhodes grass, Natal grass
and sorghum from South Africa; soy beans, lespedeza, Japanese cane from
Japan; carpet grass and Para grass from the West Indies; Bermuda from
India; velvet beans from Southern Asia.
Northern forage plants have been pretty thoroughly studied both in
Europe and America, because European conditions are fairly like those of
our Northern States. But there yet remains hosts of grasses and legumes
adapted to sub-tropical climates concerning which we know practically
nothing.
Out of very numerous grasses and legumes at present under test are
several that possess promise, and these I shall discuss briefly.
Kudzu.
Kudzu is not particularly new, but it seems to me destined to a much
greater importance than at present. It is the only perennial forage
legume that has in any sense made good in Florida. It is much better
adapted to clayey soils than to sandy soils, but it also succeeds
remarkably well on the limestone soils about Miami. On the better sandy
soils it would also seem to be valuable, but on the poorer sandy soils
and poorly drained lands it is doubtful if it has a place. On clay soils
at Arlington Farm, Va., we have consistently gotten two cuttings,
totaling five tons of hay per acre--double what we can get from cow peas
or soy beans. I believe kudzu is entitled to a fair trial by every
Florida cattleman.
Napier Grass.
You have doubtless seen some of the numerous references recently in
Florida papers to "Japanese bamboo grass" or "Carter's grass" as grown
about Arcadia. These names rest upon a misconception. The grass is a
native of South Africa, properly known as Napier grass, or _Pennisetum
macrostachyum_, introduced by the Department in 1913. This is a
perennial much like Japanese cane, and in our tests is found hardy as
far north as Charleston. It does well on rather poor soil and yields
heavy crops. In chemical analysis it is richer than corn in protein and
carbohydrates, but also contains three times as much fiber. It is this
high fiber content or woody character that makes me dubious about its
silage value, in which opinion Professor Rolfs concurs. When two or
three feet high it is greedily eaten by animals, and so may be a
pasturage possibility. As a green feed crop it could be cut three or
more times each season, when three or four feet high, and I am sure will
prove a very valuable forage for the man with one or two cows. Whether
it is a crop for the stockman is still doubtful.
In 1916 we introduced a very similar species, _Pennisetum merkeri_,
which is perhaps a little superior, though it is hard to tell the two
apart.
Metake.
The name "Japanese bamboo grass" leads me to mention a true Japanese
bamboo, the _metake_. This is a bamboo that spreads by rootstocks and
forms dense thickets ten to fifteen feet high, much like cane brake,
and, like our native cane, a valuable winter pasture plant. Mr. P. K.
Yonge has grown it with marked success about twenty miles north of
Pensacola. It seems to me a valuable plant to furnish a supply of
pasturage in winter, when pasturage is practically gone. It is worthy of
careful trial on all well-drained Florida soils.
Tripsacum Laxum.
Last year we secured from Guatemala a new perennial grass which, if it
proves winter hardy, will, I am certain, be of enormous value to South
Florida. This grass grows much like teosinte, but is stouter and very
much more leafy. The stem is tender, sweet and juicy, and all the leaves
remain green. It is an ideal silage plant. So far as I am aware, our
trial at Miami is the first time this grass has ever been cultivated.
The few live stock men who have seen it went into ecstasies. It may
prove valuable, however, only for frostless regions.
Creeping Pasture Grasses.
At the present time we have under trial five creeping pasture grasses,
more or less like Bermuda in a general way. You are, of course, aware
that a pasture grass to be valuable should be able to spread naturally
and must be able to hold the ground. Naturally it takes time to
determine all these facts. The five grasses I refer to are as follows:
Blue Couch (_Digitaria didactyla_). This is much like Bermuda, but
produces abundant good seed. For lawns and pastures it promises to be
about equally as valuable as Bermuda.
Manilla Grass (_Osterdamia matrella_). This is especially adapted to
rather moist sandy lands. It grows very dense, and where it thrives
should be valuable.
Lovi-lovi (_Chrysopogon aciculatus_). This furnishes much pasturage in
India, the Philippines, and South China. The seeds are very abundant,
and each sticks into the clothing like a pin. But about Hongkong it is
used generally as a lawn grass. It is well adapted to dry sandy soils.
If it proves well adapted to Florida we can, I think, chance its
becoming a nuisance, because if it does thrive it will give much
pasture.
Nilghiri Grass (_Andropogon emersus_). This is the only creeping grass
of the genus Andropogon (which includes our broom sedges) that we have
yet found. I secured it in the Nilghiri Hills of South India. It looks
promising.
Kikuyu Grass (_Pennisetum sp._). This is native to the highlands of
Uganda, in British East Africa, and in South Africa has created great
interest. It looks much like St. Augustine grass. At Biloxi, Miss., it
has succeeded well. It looked very fine at Arlington, Va., but could not
stand the winter. This grass is said to be very nutritious, and I
believe that on the better soils of Florida it will prove a real
acquisition.
I mention these new things to give you some idea of what we are doing. I
might mention several others that look good to us, but it will be time
to speak when we have tried them further. In brief, we are scouring the
earth to find grasses and legumes to meet Florida's needs. We have faith
that the grasses and legumes exist, if we only can find them.
Gentlemen, in closing I must say one thing more. Our country is at
war--a war that will tax our energies and resources to the uttermost. No
more dangerous idea can be entertained than to minimize the task, or to
delude ourselves with the prospect of an early peace.
One important factor is food, especially meat and wheat. Only an
unusually favorable season can produce for us as much wheat as last
year. Our meat and forage supplies are low, because in times of food
scarcity, grass crops are necessarily sacrificed. Gentlemen, you can do
much to help increase the meat supply. In developing your ranches to
increase your output, I want to urge as a patriotic duty that you
increase your good pasturage and your winter feed supply as rapidly as
you can. I could not urge this in peace times, because rapid development
is never the most economical. But in this time of stress you cattlemen
can help the nation most by increasing your output to the maximum. There
is no other way for you to give to the nation that will count so much. I
therefore urge that you brush aside all questions as to the economically
best method of increasing pasturage and forage, and to devote all your
capital and all your energy to doing this along any lines that are
sure.
FLORIDA AS SEEN FROM A TEXAS STANDPOINT.
_Address by W. N. Waddell of Fort Worth, Texas, before the
Florida State Live Stock Association, January 9, 1918._
_Mr. Waddell started to working cattle on the Texas ranges in 1875, and
has been in the cattle business for himself since 1881._
_He was chairman of the Live Stock Sanitary Commission of Texas for four
years, and for a number of years has been the Texas representative of
the Live Stock Exchange National Bank of Chicago, and of the Chicago
Cattle Loan Company._
_After spending a week in Florida during August of 1917, Mr. Waddell
returned to the State in November and spent considerable time
investigating the opportunities for raising cattle. This address gives
his views on the advantages Florida possesses as a cattle-producing
state._
In order to understand or to be able to appreciate a proposition of
almost any character it is necessary to approach it by comparison, and
in making comparisons touching Florida I wish to state that I have
traveled over the range of the five northern states of old Mexico; I
have traveled over the southern part of the range belt of Arizona; I
have traveled over about half of the state of New Mexico and virtually
all of Texas, and I find in Florida conditions favorable to the
production of live stock that do not exist in any of the states I have
named, which constitute the great range belt of the Southwest. In Mexico
there is very little water, and water is very hard to get by digging,
the wells averaging from 150 to 1,000 feet deep, and in a great many
instances no water at all. In Mexico they also have a great many animals
that prey on the live stock, such as panthers, lobo wolves, bears, as
well as the common, ordinary coyote. None of these have to be contended
with here.
In Arizona and New Mexico about the same conditions prevail as do in
northern Old Mexico. In Texas we have bears and sundry pests to prey on
our live stock. The prairie dog infests a great many of our ranches,
destroying the grass, digging holes in the ground, and making it
dangerous for the cowboy to ride over in the pursuit of his range
endeavors. We have wolves of all species. In Texas we have also the
screw worms that are a tax on the live stock producer to the extent of
from two to five per cent of the calves born on his ranch, and I am
sorry to say that worst of all we have periodical droughts. None of
these adverse conditions I find prevail in Florida.
Here I find the country covered with a thick, heavy coat of grass,
streams running with plenty of water and I understand where natural
water is not available that it is only about from twenty to one hundred
feet to an abundant supply of water under the ground, making the
proposition of watering the ranches in Florida, where artificial water
is necessary, a very simple matter. The climate in Florida is temperate
and mild, rainfall is regular and abundant, and, so far as the
production of forage for live stock on the range is concerned, your
rainfall and your soils all seem to combine in favor of the producer of
live stock.
I never was more amazed in my life than I was last summer, when, in
company with a committee of other cattle men from Texas, I visited this
state. At that time I was shown over the southern middle part of
Florida; was shown a great domain of country lying out of doors, as it
were and as we term it in Texas, furnishing free range for hundreds of
thousands of cattle. I did not believe my ears when I was told those
conditions existed here, and I can't understand yet why a state as old
as Florida, with as many surface indications of possibilities for the
production of live stock, should remain unfenced, unoccupied, and
non-revenue producing to the men who own the land.
Another surprise that met us when we came to Florida in the summer was
the absolute lack of any improvement in the live stock that we found
here. In fact, it is my judgment that the cattle in Florida today, from
what I have read of the history of Florida, are not as good as they were
thirty years ago, and I am surprised, when I think of the facilities
furnished the cattle men of Florida by the land owners for the grazing
of their cattle, that they haven't taken any more interest in their
cattle than they have and tried to improve them.
Florida today, as never before, is attracting national attention as a
possible beef-producing state. The eyes of the investing public are
turned toward Florida, and it is my judgment that within the next five
years Florida will make greater strides in the development of the live
stock industry than it has ever made before. And I want here and now to
issue a warning to you gentlemen who are running your cattle on the open
ranges of Florida that you had better get busy and get control of what
land you expect to use as a cattle ranch, for if I mistake not,
outsiders are coming into this state who will buy or lease these lands,
put them under fence and inaugurate a system of live stock production on
an improved basis as compared to the present methods being pursued in
this state.
And in this connection I wish to state that I have discussed this open
range proposition with some of the largest land owners in Florida. They
tell me that they want to see Florida developed; they tell me they are
in line to lend their energies, their time and their money to anything
that will develop the State of Florida. After listening to them talk
this line of earnest progressiveness, I have put the proposition to them
just like it was put to us in Texas, and that is, formulate an equitable
leasing proposition, one that will safeguard the interests of the land
owner, and at the same time lend protection to the vested rights of the
lessee, and advertise that to the world. Let the people not only of
Florida, but the people outside of the State of Florida, know that they
can come to Florida and at a small rental cost, lease as many acres of
good grazing land as they have money to get cattle with which to stock
it, assuring the prospective lessee that they will fence the land
according to his desires and will build him a ranch house to live in;
that they will fence him a horse pasture to keep his saddle horses in;
will build him a dipping vat on the land, and where necessary will bore
wells and equip them with windmill and pump sufficient to furnish plenty
of water for the live stock on the land so leased.
There was never any marked development or marked improvement in the live
stock industry in the State of Texas as long as the cattle ranged on the
free grass, but in 1884 the Legislature passed what was known as a Lease
Law. Then it was, gentlemen, that the fencing up of the State of Texas
began in earnest. No man was willing to pay lease on land and let
somebody else's cattle graze on it. And that is the first step needed to
be taken in the evolution of better cattle in Florida. The land owners
should fence up their lands, cut them up in pastures to suit the men who
want to run their cattle on them, making the lands of Florida
revenue-producing, instead of being a liability, and put the cattle of
Florida under fence and under control wherein individual effort may
develop in a desire to excel. I can not stress this proposition too
strongly. I haven't the language to express the importance of putting
the lands of Florida under fence and the cattle under control in order
that better cattle and more cattle may be raised. The most important
step looking to better cattle in Florida has already been taken in the
creation of a Live Stock Sanitary Board and the work incident thereto of
tick eradication. This work and the efforts of the Florida State Live
Stock Sanitary Board will be much more effective and easier of
accomplishment when you get the ranges of Florida fenced and the cattle
under control.
It seems to me that Florida has been overlooked. I am led to the belief
that the Florida cowmen have been lulled to sleep, as it were, by the
fact that they haven't been bothered by any outside influences. In
discussing the breeding up or improving of the cattle with a good many
breeders whom I have met in this State, I find that all voice the
sentiment that they would like to raise better cattle; that the State
ought to produce better cattle; and that it is a good cattle country.
Florida is wasting approximately enough good pasture to produce a meat
supply sufficient to feed several states by confining the quality of the
herds to the little native cattle we saw on the ranges. True, we saw
lots of cattle, more than I supposed existed in the entire State, but
the opportunity before the cattle men is to breed up the quality and
size. That this can be done was demonstrated by some herds we visited,
and the reports on those herds show that this is a better cattle
breeding country than Texas, for your owners are branding a larger
proportion of calves to breeding cows in herds than we are able to get.
I am sure that good cattle can be raised in Florida because I have seen
them. I am sure that good hogs can be raised in Florida because I have
seen them, and on the question of the hog, I wish to state that on the
open range country of Florida, especially the southern part in the
prairie country, where there are hard wood and cabbage hammocks, is the
ideal country in which to grow hogs. I made the statement when I was
here in the summer that I believed a man could fence up a range of ten
or twenty or thirty thousand acres in Florida, stock it with cattle and
stock it with hogs, and that I believed the hogs would pay the overhead
charges of running the ranch, and my observations here for the past
thirty days traveling over the State have convinced me that that
statement was not very much exaggerated.
There is no reason why cattle men should not make dividends on
investments while breeding up the quality of their herds, for this is a
great cattle country.
I am very much surprised to find that sheep are not more generally
handled on the ranges with the cattle. The absence of coyotes make sheep
raising particularly attractive, and they will not injure the cattle
pasturage if properly proportioned. There ought to be several hundred
thousand sheep on the Kissimmee River Valley ranges. We handle large
numbers of sheep and cattle together, although our ranges are not nearly
so good as those in Florida.
* * * * *
In conclusion, I will state that I think Florida offers the best field
for live stock production along improved lines of any State in America.
That is, cattle can be raised here cheaper and with less uncertainty
than any place I know.
A GLANCE BACKWARD AND FORWARD.
_Annual Address before the Florida State Live Stock
Association, January 8, 1918, by Dr. W. F. Blackman,
President of the Association._
Never before have we met in circumstances so extraordinary and under the
stress of thoughts and emotions so many, so various, so conflicting and
perplexing as today. Our minds are engrossed and appalled by the world
catastrophe into which we have been plunged. Since our last meeting,
life for every man and woman of us has been changed in all its major
aspects and fallen into disorder. All the peaceful routine of our
thoughts and habits has been upset. Our sons and neighbors are on their
way to the hideous and heroic and bloody work abroad to which they have
been summoned. * * *
But disquieting as are the times, the business of the stock raiser in
America, and particularly in Florida, was never on so sound a basis as
today, never so full of promise. The exhaustion of domestic animals
throughout Europe and the increasing shortage in our own country are
creating a demand which will insure for many years to come a profitable
market for all the beef, pork, mutton and dairy products which we can
supply.
Definitely, I think it can be said that there can be no danger of
overproduction in these lines for a long time to come. And for this
industry, which we may perhaps properly call the most ancient,
fundamental, necessary, stable, wholesome, honorable and delightful of
all the occupations in which men are engaged, Florida has advantages of
soil, climate, rainfall and location greater, on the whole, than those
enjoyed by any other state of the American union. This is being
recognized in increasing measure, far and wide. The eyes of discerning
and experienced men are being turned this way as never before. Inquiries
by mail and visits of exploration from the North, the West and the
Southwest have never before been so numerous as during the year which we
are reviewing, and our own people are awakening to the opportunities
which lie all about them, unused and inviting.
There are vast areas of cheap and hitherto waste lands in every part of
the State, lying open the year round to the genial and fructifying rays
of a semi-tropical and sub-tropical sun, which need only the expenditure
upon them of money and labor to fit them for the support of herds and
flocks greater than any other region can maintain. We have every reason,
as we face the new year, to take courage and to gird ourselves for the
task of turning into reality these gracious possibilities which nature
has spread about us with a lavish hand.
The past year has been signalized by one great achievement, carrying two
others in its train. The great achievement to which I refer, the
greatest by all odds ever accomplished in this State, is the creation by
the Legislature of a State Live Stock Sanitary Board and the
appropriation of public monies for the carrying on of its work; and the
two consequent achievements are the beginning of definite, determined,
statewide, co-operative and adequately supported efforts to eradicate
the pestilent cattle tick from all our borders and to control hog
cholera. * * *
And I venture now to say--and I say it with pardonable pride and great
pleasure--that no state in the Union has a more carefully considered,
better balanced and guarded, and more rigid and effective law, covering
the matter of live stock sanitation, than has Florida. Perhaps a detail
here and there needs to be amended and strengthened, but, on the whole,
the measure was a good one and is working well. * * *
I may add, finally, that the State Live Stock Sanitary Board, in the two
great undertakings to which, for the present and the immediate future,
it will, of necessity, chiefly devote its energies, the eradication of
the cattle tick and the control of hog cholera, we are leaning heavily
on two co-operative agencies. The first of these is the Federal
Government, through its Bureau of Animal Industry, and the States
Relations Service.
In Dr. E. M. Nighbert, inspector in charge of the work of tick
eradication; Dr. A. H. Logan, inspector in charge for hog cholera
control; Dean P. H. Rolfs of the University, director of the Experiment
Station, in charge of the work in Florida of the States Relations
Service, and the numerous assistants placed by the Federal Government,
under the direction of these three gentlemen, we have a large body of
capable, trained and energetic experts, whose co-operation with our
Board is of inestimable value to the State, and whose maintenance costs
us nothing.
The members of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board serve without
remuneration, so that we have in Florida approximately thirty men who
are engaged in promoting the work of live stock sanitation without
expense to the taxpayers of the State. It is fitting, I think, that this
Association should be reminded of this very great and very costly, but
nevertheless wholly gratuitous, service which is being rendered to the
interests which we represent. * * *
So much for the past year; now for a glance forward.
What I have just been saying indicates clearly the special work to which
we ought, in my judgment, to devote ourselves in the immediate future--I
mean the complete and final eradication of the tick in every county in
Florida and the largest possible measure of control of hog cholera. If
we see clearly, we see that these tasks are preliminary to all others. *
* *
Fortunately the tick is a very weak and vulnerable enemy, though so
mischievous. Put all the cattle of Florida through the dipping vat once
a fortnight for five or six months, and there would be no more ticks
left in this State than there are snakes in Ireland. Let us consecrate
ourselves here in this meeting to the doing of this thing, and doing it
_soon_.
Hog cholera is not so simple and manageable an affair. In the
micro-organism which causes this disease, we face an enemy far subtler,
more cunning, more elusive, more persistent and more swiftly fatal than
is the tick. It escapes observation by the most powerful microscope; it
laughs at quarantine lines; it flows in the stream; it lurks in the
pool; it rides upon the foot of beast and bird, the shoe of man, the
wagon's wheel; it soars aloft on the buzzard's wing; you can not catch
and dip it.
I earnestly advise the formation of local live stock associations
throughout the State, at least one in each county affiliated with the
State Association, and having special committees on Tick Eradication and
Hog Cholera Control, composed of the ablest, the most energetic and the
most influential men in the various communities. Let these associations
hold meetings at regular intervals for the free exchange of views and
experiences; let expert and interesting speakers from abroad bring to
these meetings fresh information and impetus; let there be added such
social and entertaining features as may be available--music, barbecues,
moving pictures, boat excursions, what-not--to attract the multitude,
relieve the monotony of farm life, and increase neighborliness and good
community feeling. Let the co-operation of the banks of the region be
secured, for the generous financing of pig clubs and corn clubs. * * *
There is one other matter of prime importance to which I invite your
attention. If the live stock industry of Florida is to be put on the
most stable basis and developed with reasonable rapidity, immense sums
of money will be required. Fences must be built; drainage canals and
ditches must be dug; improved and more nourishing grasses must be
introduced over vast areas; other great areas must be planted with
forage crops; silos must be built; plows, harrows and other expensive
implements must be purchased; horses, mules and tractors, herdsmen,
farmers and laborers must be secured and put to work in great numbers; a
multitude of pure-bred bulls and cows, boars and sows, rams and ewes,
stallions, jacks and mares must be imported for the improvement of our
native stock.
Where are the necessary funds coming from for the financing of those
enterprises? Perhaps the large ranch owners can take care of themselves,
but what our State needs above all things else is thrifty farmers by the
thousand, now on the ground or drawn from other states by our surpassing
advantages of soil and climate; where shall these secure the funds
necessary for the development of their more modest holdings?
Florida is a relatively new and scantily populated State; there are here
no great reserves of cash and securities, accumulated and bequeathed by
generations of toiling and thrifty ancestors, as in some parts of the
country. Many of the banks are doing their best to care for our live
stock interests, but the ability of our local banks--and I speak now as
a banker--is strictly limited in this direction.
What we need in Florida, in my judgment, as the very next step to be
taken, is one or more strong cattle loan companies, such as flourish in
the West, whose sole business it will be to provide the funds necessary
for the developments which I have mentioned, so far as cattle are
concerned. This is a matter which will occupy us during one entire
session of this meeting, and I need not, therefore, deal with it further
now, except to say that the present time seems especially propitious for
the securing of such funds as we need for this business.
Men are asking how they may make safe investment of their savings in
these troubled times; the future of the railways, now under Government
control, is uncertain; industrial enterprises have been largely thrown
into abnormal condition by the war; stocks, bonds and other similar
securities have in them today a considerable speculative element which
gives pause to conservative investors. But amid all this flux and
uncertainty, here lies the land, as from of old, unchanging, peaceful,
fruitful, a mother's full breast, and upon the land feed and grow,
enriching and renewing it forever even as they feed upon it, the
friendly animals, whose flesh and milk support our life from the cradle
to the grave.
There is nothing speculative here, and I am confident that investors,
perplexed now by the unheard of aspect of the world's affairs, will be
disposed to put their funds more and more into the soil and its
products, if they are shown the way; and the cattle-loan company,
organized and administered by experienced and careful men, can show them
the way and lead them safely in it.
And now, gentlemen, we will proceed to the program our Executive
Committee has provided. I hope that our meeting together, the messages
which will be brought us from abroad, and the various discussions in
which we ourselves shall engage, will serve to hearten us for our work
and help us to feel, amid the toil and perplexities of our daily task,
that in providing a more copious supply of food for the world, in
causing two blades of grass to grow where one grew before, and in
transforming these blades of grass by the mysterious and wonderful
processes of nature into the thoughts and loves of men and women, the
orator's speech, the poet's song, the statesman's wisdom, the soldier's
fierce energy, the mother's brooding care, and the babe's new life, we
are doing our part to support and render more rich and worthy this
wondrous human drama and are partners with God in the work of his
earthly kingdom.
FLORIDA SUITED TO EXTENSIVE CATTLE RAISING.
Texas Ranchmen Declare Conditions Ideal for Cattle, Sheep and Goats.
The impression made upon a prominent Texas ranch owner who recently
visited the great cattle ranges of Florida was that Nature has been too
good to the cattle industry in this State to encourage improvement in
the crude methods of breeding and handling stock which have been in
vogue for years, for the cattle owners have made money without trying.
Among those who spent a week during the latter part of August inspecting
range conditions were M. Sansom of Fort Worth, president of the
Cassidy-Southwestern Commission Co., director of the Federal Reserve
Bank and owner of large cattle ranch interests. * * *
Mr. Sansom expressed his impression of Florida's opportunity for raising
cattle in these words:
"The only trouble you have in Florida, Nature has been too good to you.
If it had done half as much for Texas the Government officials would not
now be worrying about the future meat supply for the United States and
our Allies. I have seen Texas when the cattle were no better than the
grade I have seen on this trip. We started twenty-five years ago to
improve our herds and stayed with it, until today we furnish some of the
best breeding and feeding cattle for the Northern States.
"Florida now has very great advantage over pioneer Texas, as you can get
some of our good breeding stock and make rapid progress breeding up your
herds. The Osceola Cattle Co., in Osceola County, has started along
right lines, and the manager gave me some figures on calf production
which show that his herd are producing a larger percentage of calves
than we get in Texas.
"But your luxuriant range grasses and abundance of stock water are
almost unbelievable. Your range will carry from three to ten times as
many cattle per section as the Texas land in a normal year. And when I
say normal year I want you to remember that sometimes the rain clouds
forget all about Texas for months at a time, and then our ranges suffer
from drought, as large sections of them are doing at this time.
"You have a sheep country as good as exists, and a goat country better
than any other. It is too bad that you do not raise more sheep on your
ranges, for they do not hurt the cattle pastures, eating only the tender
blades down under the more mature grass. We run thousands of sheep on
our cattle ranges in Texas. The goats will be a distinct benefit to the
Florida ranges, as they do not eat much grass when they can get
underbrush, briars and weeds. By having those cleaned out of the
pastures the grass will have a better chance to grow.
"I am informed that Florida does not have to combat coyotes, which are
our worst sheep enemies, so you really have no serious losses to
anticipate on your sheep investments. And yet there are very few sheep
on the ranges we have visited. It is to be hoped that your cattlemen
will use more sheep on the ranges.
"The range country should become the calf incubator for the Southeastern
States, the offspring being sold at weaning time or as yearlings. That
will give your ranges a larger carrying capacity for breeding stock and
let the grain-producing sections do the finishing."--_From the
Manufacturers' Record, Sept. 13, 1917._
CATTLE RAISING IN FLORIDA.
As I Saw it on a Thousand-mile Tour of the Central Part of
the State.
_By A. C. Williams._
Wasn't it Saul who went out in search of asses and found a kingdom? You
men who are familiar with the Bible can answer that. But I can testify
that I, while not in search of asses, duplicated Saul's experience
during the past month, when, in company with M. Sansom, W. N. Waddell,
Caesar Kleberg and Tom T. East of Texas, Dr. L. J. Allen of Oklahoma,
Geo. M. Rommel of Washington, P. L. Sutherland, C. L. Gaines and J. G.
Boyd of Florida, I had the pleasure of a thousand-mile trip through the
central part of the State of Florida.
Nature has been very kind to Florida, providing delightful climate,
fertile lands and adequate rainfall for farming purposes; broad
prairies, carpeted with succulent grasses and watered by running streams
for live stock raising; timber galore for sawmills, and countless beauty
spots beckoning to tourists. But the citizens of that State have been
slow to take advantage of their opportunities. Agriculture in many
sections has been a neglected art. Practically all of the foodstuffs,
including grain, meat, butter and eggs, have been produced outside the
State. Colonization companies have devoted their energies to boosting
orange orchards and truck gardens (the "poker game of agriculture"), and
little organized effort has been made to attract farmers and stockmen of
tireless energy--the backbone of any community.
Among the neglected industries, none stand out more conspicuously than
stock raising. The native cattle, inbred, stunted specimens of doubtful
origin, have been turned loose on the free, open range to rustle for
themselves, and little effort has been made in most sections toward
breed improvement. Due to the mild climate, good range, adequate water
supply and absence of screw worms, coyotes and other pests, they have
survived. And with open range and no expense they have been very
profitable. In our entire trip we saw only two or three flocks of sheep
and goats. They were of better quality than I had expected--fairly good
for mutton, but light on wool.
A new era is dawning for the cattle business of Florida. The war has
forced a reduction in the exports of turpentine and rosin, and the large
land owners are turning their attention to improved stock raising. A
packing house has been erected at Jacksonville. Systematic tick
eradication is being carried on. Large tracts of land have been fenced
and stocked. Hundreds of well-bred Texas cows and registered Hereford,
Angus, Shorthorn and Brahma bulls are being purchased, and the work of
breed improvement is growing in popularity.
Good feed and forage crops can be grown in most sections, and with this
new movement for improved live stock will come deeper interest in
agriculture. The chief forage crops now produced in that State are corn,
velvet beans, Japanese cane, sorghum, cow peas and beggar-weed. The
first three perhaps take the lead. The corn and velvet beans are planted
together, in rows from four to six feet apart. The beans grow very rank,
producing an abundance of good hay, and beans which are high in feeding
value. The beans may be left on the vines for pasturage, or gathered and
ground into bean meal, which is excellent for cattle feeding. Japanese
cane resembles our Texas ribbon cane. It makes good silage, keeps well
and is highly relished by cattle. The Florida beggar-weed grows as a
volunteer in old fields of a light sandy soil. If cut at the right time
it makes good hay, and, while it is rather bulky for silage alone, it is
said to add greatly to the fattening value of silage. Corn and cow peas
need no introduction to our readers.
The most common grasses are several varieties of paspalum or carpet
grass, switch grass, wire grass, little blue maiden cane and Bermuda.
Crab and Natal grass are volunteers which follow crops on sandy soils.
Both Guinea and Para grasses thrive in South Florida, where less liable
to injury by frost. Fort Thompson grass, which resembles giant Bermuda,
with larger joint, stem and leaf, is a native of Florida, which will
some day be recognized as one of their very best pasture grasses.
With their open range and native cattle--a poorer grade than our
old-time longhorn--the cattle business of Florida today may be compared
to that of Texas twenty years ago. What they need is more bulls and
experienced cattlemen who will apply the intelligence, energy and
persistence that know not failure.
Leaving Kenansville at 8:15, we were soon out on the Kissimmee prairie
of thousands and thousands of acres of open range. Here, where the grass
was very luxuriant, resembling a hay meadow, we saw several hundred more
of the small native cattle, followed by the common scrubby bulls. The
fat four-year-old steers weighed around 550 pounds, and are valued at
$30 per head. The cows weighed around 500 pounds. The range herds of
mixed ages and classes are valued at $20 per head. We soon left the
public highway, circling marshes and dodging palmettos. Our next stop
was on Gum Slough Ranch, where we were told that on a pasture of 10,000
acres there were 6,000 cattle. The ground was well covered with carpet
and a variety of other grasses, and did not show the effects of close
grazing. The cattle were in good condition and of better quality than
most of the others which we had inspected.--_From The Cattleman,
September, 1917._
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Florida: An Ideal Cattle State, by
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