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Cattle Industry

Florida in Tomorrow's Sun

1925

The range cattle industry of Florida is unique. The supply of native grasses being adequate to their needs, the cattle are permitted to run practically unattended, being rounded up only once a year for branding purposes. The cattle are either consumed at home or exported to Cuba, domestic markets being closed to them, due to the presence of the tick. Several counties of the state, however, have already passed "no fence" laws, and it is anticipated that at the next session of the Legislature in 1927 state-wide legislation to this end will be enacted, as it has in the matter of compulsory dipping, for it is now recognized by all authorities that the tick can be eradicated under "no fence" conditions for at least one per cent of the cost under the conditions of the open range.

Some of the larger cattlemen have anticipated that the days of the open range in Florida are numbered, and have commenced to fence their lands. In Polk and Highlands counties, for instance, one company has more than 250,000 acres under fence. This is the Horseshoe Ranch, of the Kissimmee Island Cattle Company, which, with some 22,000 head of improved Braman cattle, is said to be the second largest ranch in the United States.

Source:
Excerpt from: Agassiz, Garnault. "Florida in Tomorrow's Sun."
Suniland, Nov. 1925, Vol.3, No.2., Pgs. 37-45; 88-94; 113-133

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