Part 8

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.