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Show I T'W Live stock." SituatjionJ Soil producing food stuff and other commodities required for the sustenance susten-ance and comfort of humanity is the final basis from which everything must be reckoned. Community prosperity is governed by recognition of the importance of building up and maintaining fertility of the soil. We have examples of this in the so-cailed "deserted farms" in sections of the east where everything was taken and nothing returned to the soil for generations, until the productivity produ-ctivity wa sentirely exhausted. Then, we have the middle west, where years ago the importance of fertilization fertiliza-tion was temporarily overlooked until un-til it was so forcibly brought home to the land holder that proper recognition recogni-tion was given to the subject. In those middle western sections we now observe what is probably as well a balanced, prosperous and diversified an agriculture as may be found anywhere any-where in the world; with livestock occupying it's place as one of the most important units, j It is self-evident that year in and year out the raising and feeding of : even a small number of meat food j animals gives to the producer, regardless regard-less of what hs main line of production produc-tion is, a much needed diversification. diversifica-tion. Every dollar of taxes annually contributed by the farmers of the west could be paid by the keeping of a few head of livestock on the ranch, an dthis product is one for which cash is available every day. What other product can you call to mind for which there is a cash market avail- able every day in the year, and for which there is a perpetually sustained demand 1 The value of fertilizer derived from keeping a few animals on the farm, when considered in dollars, overshadows over-shadows the profits to be made from the handling of the animals themselves. them-selves. People of the middle west who have proven the wisdom of this practice prac-tice and have found that in purchasing purchas-ing young beeves and finish feeding them, or handing hogs or sheep, that the fertilizer retained for the rehabilitating re-habilitating of the soil exceeded in value the original cost of the animals. It has been proven conclusively that in diversification lies success and safety for the producer. In an "off" year, or when a slump has been experienced ex-perienced on the production or marketing mar-keting of some particular commodity, the producer who has shown the wisdom wis-dom of carrying a few head of livestock live-stock on his place isn't so seriously affected as the producer who relies entirely upon one crop for his revenue. Livestock market report increasing increas-ing gains in receipts arriving from small producers, man ytimes coming in the form of community shipments where several producers pool their holdings in order to make up a carload. car-load. It would seem reasonable to predict that it is only a question of time until the bulk of livestock production pro-duction will be in the hands of small producers brought about largely thru the continued cutting up of large land areas. |