OCR Text |
Show .jjlSTQCK FARMERS ADVISED TO RAISE COLTS Farmers will either have to use more tractors five years from now or else start raising more lolls, and the wise farmer is the one who will make the decision now, according to H. C. M. Case, in charge of the farm organization organiza-tion and management department at the University of Illinois. I'tidoiihted-ly. I'tidoiihted-ly. the time Is fasi approaching when there will be a shortage of horses, and the "price of work stock Is bound to rise in the face of these conditions, he said. Figures collected by the college from 125 farms In DuPage, Knox, Stephenson, Whiteside and Winnebago counties show that the colts now being raised on these farms will replace only about oup-fourth of the horses that may be expected to be lost annually. That this situation is not a local one but that it exists throughout the country coun-try is shown by data collected by the federal Department of Agriculture through its 2!,000 crop reporters, who for the most part are farmers scattered over the whole country. According to this information, there are only about half as many horses under three years old on farms of the country as will be needed to maintain the present number of horses. Naturally, a shortage of horses has not been felt in recent years because tractors have been Introduced to replace re-place part of the horses. Consequently, Consequent-ly, even if no colts were raised and horses were not shipped in from the outside for a few yutirs, the shortage would not be noticeable. However, this condition ennnot exist indefinitely and the time undoubtedly is fnst approaching ap-proaching when the shortage will be upon us. While the present price of horses will scarcely pay the cost of production, produc-tion, this condition Is certain to change. Colts should he looked upon as a kind of by-product on corn-belt farms. A colt can be raised while its mother helps care for the peak load of labor in the spring, while it can be fed largely large-ly on roughage feeds which are not well utilized on many farms. |