Louisiana Beef Cattle.
by William Carter Stubbs.
FOREWORD
The following remarks relative to Louisiana Beef Cattle are proffered the public to show the marvelous advantages possessed by the alluvial lands of Louisiana, for the growing of cattle.
An intelligent use of these advantages will bring wealth to the individual, the State and the Nation.
WILLIAM CARTER STUBBS, PH.D.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE
The wealth-producing possibilities of cattle-raising are written into the history, literature and art of every race; and with every nationality riches have always been counted in cattle and corn.
We find cattle mentioned in the earliest known records of the Hebrews, Chaldeans and Hindus, and carved on the monuments of Egypt, thousands of years before the Christian era.
Among the primitive peoples wealth was, and still is, measured by the size of the cattle herds, whether it be the reindeer of the frigid North, the camel of the Great Sahara, or herds of whatsoever kind that are found in every land and in every clime.
The earliest known money, in Ancient Greece, was the image of the ox stamped on metal; and the Latin word _pecunia_ and our own English "pecuniary" are derived from _pecus_--cattle.
Although known to the Eastern Hemisphere since the dawn of history, cattle are not native to the Western Hemisphere, but were introduced into America during the sixteenth century.
Cortez, Ponce de Leon, De Soto and the other _conquistadores_ from Old Madrid, who sailed the seas in quest of gold, brought with them to the New World the monarchs of the bull ring, and introduced the national sport of Spain into the colonies founded in Peru, Mexico, Florida and Louisiana.
The long-horned, half-wild herds encountered by the pioneers, and by the "Forty-niners," who three centuries later trekked across the continent in quest of gold in California, were descendants of the bull pens of Mexico City, St. Augustine and New Orleans.
A different type of cattle was brought over to Jamestown, the first English colony, in the seventeenth century; these were strictly utilitarian, designed for the triple service of enriching the larder with dairy products, supplementing the abundant meat supply of buffalo, deer and other game and providing the ox as the draft animal.
The pioneers, striking out from the Atlantic seaboard, carried with them their domestic cattle, which were introduced and fostered wherever settlements were made in their progress across the continent.
It was not until after the Revolutionary War that wealthy planters of Virginia imported Herefords from England, Jerseys from the Isle of Jersey, and the flower of other Old World herds.
Even then, extensive breeding of high-grade animals languished for years, owing to the unprogressive farming methods; and at a later period on account of the dominancy of the Western cattle ranges.
The public domain of the West and Southwest, owing to the vast areas of grazing land which cost the cattlemen nothing, became the controlling factor in the American cattle industry, reaching its climax about 1880.
Subsequently these great feeding grounds were invaded by the sheep-grower, whose flocks destroyed the pastures and drove out the cattle wherever they appeared.
The death knell of the national cattle range was sounded by the United States Government in throwing open the public lands to settlers.
During the romantic period of the cattle outfit--the cowboy with his bucking broncho, lariat and six-shooter--many of the important cities and towns of today came into existence as humble adjuncts of the live stock industry.
There are men living today who have witnessed the beginning, the rise, and almost the extinction, of the Western cattle range.
A complete revolution has been brought about in the cattle industry within a lifetime. The change has been a rapid one from the free range to the fenced pasture; the open ranges turned into farms and settlements.
With the advent of changed conditions, the rancher of restricted territory and reduced herds ceased to be an important factor in directly supplying the market, as he was forced to utilize the land that was not desirable for homesteaders, and the pasturage being insufficient to suitably fatten stock, he was compelled to ship his cattle to the feeders of the Middle West to prepare them for market.
Meanwhile, the Middle West, or corn-belt states, being unable to raise cattle in an economical way, developed into a feeding station, where young cattle from the Western ranges were shipped to be fattened and prepared for the market.
With the decrease of range cattle, year by year, fewer Western beeves reach the corn belt to be finished and made ready for market.
The early settlers of Southern Louisiana raised cattle after the fashion that prevailed on the plains of Texas; that is, great herds without care or attention of any kind increased and multiplied and were annually rounded up and marketed; the returns were virtually all profit, as the cattle found their sustenance entirely in the luxuriant natural pasturage.
With the change of conditions in the cattle-growing world, Louisiana began the improvement of its herds, so that today there are thousands of highly bred cattle in the state, equal to the best that can be found anywhere.
In a consideration of any branch of the live stock industry, a review of the world-wide conditions becomes necessary to establish a standard of comparison between the industry in a given locality as against all other localities, and such a review at the present time shows an international shortage of beef cattle that even threatens famine.
The day of nondescript cattle of inferior quality is rapidly pa.s.sing.
Through breeding, they are being steadily supplanted by higher grade, perfectly developed animals which yield the proper proportions of lean and fat, whose meat is tender, nutritious and palatable.
The Old World breeds have been improved and perfected, through the skill of the American grower, until American stock has become the standard of the whole world, from the standpoint of excellence in every particular.
There are a mult.i.tude of reasons why it will never be possible for the growers of the Eastern Hemisphere, with the exception of Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries, to successfully compete with the United States in bringing the standard of their beef cattle up to the high point already attained in this country.
No longer ago than ten years, cattle were not acceptable as collateral except by banks in the Western cattle centers.
Today, cattle are standard collateral for loans, approved by the Treasury of the United States Government and acceptable everywhere, as cattle are as good as gold all over the world; and a cattle enterprise managed with ability and integrity is the safest business known.
There are diseases to which cattle are subject; but these, like the diseases to which mankind is subject, are now controlled by science, and can be quickly eradicated, even though a foothold is once gained; and that a foothold should be gained at all is as much beyond the bounds of reason as that the cities of New York and Chicago should, in this advanced age, be devastated by a scourge of cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, or what not.
According to official estimates of the United States Government, in 1910 there were 41,178,000 head of beef cattle in the United States, having a value of $785,261,000, while on January 1, 1917, there were 40,849,000 head of beef cattle, having a value of $1,465,786,000; a decrease in supply, but an increase in value, within seven years, of 86.66 per cent.
In addition to superior natural conditions, the United States, on account of the great distance to other countries where cattle can be raised successfully, is protected against compet.i.tion, at all times and under all conditions.
The United States for a quarter of a century was the world"s greatest export nation, and this trade has fallen off only in recent times, because of the shortage at home.
Our export business well ill.u.s.trates the changing conditions in the cattle industry, and the record of live cattle exported from Chicago is a notable example, namely:
Cattle Exports in 1905 321,301 Exports in 1912 23,006 Exports in 1913 260 Exports in 1914 182
This table shows that the export trade was virtually extinct a year before the European War began; and if revived, it will be because of exorbitant prices brought about by the abnormal European demand, due to the depletion of the cattle herds abroad.
Official statistics show that prior to the European War 90.55 per cent of all the European cattle were within the boundaries of the now-belligerent countries.
The records at that time, covering both beef cattle and dairy-herds, were as follows: