The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 18, 1918, Page 17

Some Savmg Methods in Farm Feeding | Liberal Use of Corn Stalks and Stover, Conservmg the Ear Corn and - Utilizing Silage, Are Recommended 4 HAT are you feed- ing in this time of scarcity — you farmers who are trying to produce beef cattle by breeding for the market or fatten- ing for the mar- ket? Nothing is of more timely inter- est than this question of what to feed. Farmers are in a frame of mind to think carefully over any sound sug- gestions. With this fact in mind re- sults of well worked out expenments of Un\ted States department of agri- culture mvestxgatom and state inves- tigators are being given out. In Bulletin No. 615 on “The Eco- nomlml Winter Feeding of Beef Cows in the Corn Belt,” United States de- partment of agriculture investigators show that winter feed costs may be largely reduced, without detriment to the cows or calves, through greater use of farm by-products in rations. Avoid feedmg excessively, avoid costly rations, use more-cheap rough- ages, such as straw and corn stover; feed silage where conditions make it more economical than corn fodder— this is aflvi?e in the bulletin. WOULD ELIMINATE EXCESS AMOUNT OF CORN FED The first farm used as an example is in east central Iowa. The breeding herd consisted of a. grade bull and 22 grade cows, from which 20 calves were obtained. The cows were given excessive amounts of high-priced feed for both of the years for wkich rec- ords were procured. They were turned on stalks November 15. Winter feed- ing began afew days later and lasted 100 in pasture. Because of the un- usual rainy weather prevailing in that section, the oats and wheat for the year in which the record was taken ‘were practically destroyed and the straw was absolutely worthless for feeding. To provide for a lack of hay 15 acres of millet and four of sorghum were grown. ' The herd consisted of a bull and. 156 grade cows, from which 15 calves . were obtained. The cows were turned on stalks November 1 and allowed to run there until spring. They received approximately three acres of stalks, one ton of millet hay, and one-third of a ton -of: sorghum fodder each. Valuing the:millet at $4.50 a ton and the sorghum:at $4 a ton, the winter fead cost per cow was. $8.20. The cows were carried through the entire year for a net cost of $25.85. N>, SILAGE GOOD FOR FATTENING STEERS Silage has also been successfully used as a fattening ration. Its value for the dairy cow is well understood but its value for beef animals and sheep is not so well known. In Iowa silage has been found very valuable for beef cattle. By making silage the principal food of the cows they could be fed through the winter about as cheaply as in the summer. For dry cows a ration of 30 pounds silage, four to five'pounds of clover or alfalfa hay and the run of a straw stack and stalk field not only carried them through the winter but kept them gaining consistently. When the cows were sucking calves they were fed a Little grain. Silage not only reduced the feed cost for fattening steers but also helped make larger gains and the silage fed cattle attained a higher finigh in the same time and ordinarily outsell the cattle fed a dry ration. At the North Dakota experiment station it cost 46 cents less to make a hun- dred pounds gain on steers fed silage than on steers dry fed. Silage was also found to be good for sheep. Three to four pounds of silage, half a pound of alfalfa’ or clover hay and half a pound of oats per day for a breeding ewe of 150 pounds gave very good results. Silage is a great milk producer and should usually be limited just previous to and following lambing time. This silage was made: from corn ~ MULTIPLYING MAN POWER that was nearly mature. This is an important point. Much better silage can be made frcm corn that is nearly mature, than from corn that is im- mature. Nearly mature corn makes a sweet silage while immature corn makes a sour silage that has a lower feeding value than the other. An- other point is that the silage must not be moldy. THE PRICE OF BRAN When wheat is $2 per bushel the price of bran in carload lots should be $25.59 and when wheat is $2.05 per bushel the price becomes $26.22 at the mill in bulk, according to a ruling by the food administration. This is arrived at as follows: Take the aver- age price of the wheat going to the mill the previous month. To that add the 1 per cent grain corporation commission. From this determine -the value of a ton of wheat. Thirty-eight per cent of this amount will be the price per ton of the bran in bulk at the mill in carload lots, with wheat at $2.05 this will be $26.22. Shorts $2 higher, or $28.22. Mixed feed (which is not a mixture of bran and shorts, but includes the bran, shorts, mid- dlings and red dog flour), $4 more, or $30.22. Flour' middlings, $9 more, or $35.22, and red dog flour, $15 more, or $41.22. In less than carload lots 50 cents more & ton may. be charged.—N. D. Agr. College Infor- mation Serviee: A WORLD RECORD MILKER A purebred Holstein cow again breaks a record for butter fat pro- duction. Lady Netherland Pontiac, with 43% pounds of butter to show until 'May 8, when the cows were for a week’s work, has displaced again turned on pasture. Dnrmg_the Wandermeere Belle Hengerveld as Alipes g&gag intérval each cow received junior four-year-old in the seven day i 7 e following: division. ’k..m,, Stalks, 1-1-5 acres, at $1 an acre; Lady Netherland Pontiac produced E i:(;der, z-ioa:ritat% ng :nt acre; mlxeg in seven consecutive days 65778 ; y 8- s on; corn, T This is almost a fattening ration. It of Elma Center, N. Y. : is much more than they needed. If the ) EATLS S e O Ny corn had been husked from the fodder s o it and only the stover féd, there would If you have no incubator see that £ o : your earliest broedy hens are put on _kew~ . have been sufficient roughage for the 3 ’ but pe iy cows. Estimating that three-fourths a setling of eggs, but not too large a ,_cx= of a ton of stover was eaten per acre Bereng: v B of stalks and that the stover from the TSR 3 ,3:1%— fodder fed would go two tons to the It takes time to test seed corn, and s acre, and -allowing the cows three every farmer who intends to plant dev© bushels of corn each during the win- corn this yeaY should not delay test- i ter instead of 22, they would receive ing his most promising seed ears. I~ the following daxly ration: After they are tested they can be held v S Stover, 20.6 pounds; mixed hay, 9 until planting time. S A g i s pound'them B ¢ )| d 8 ient for 1T N TERESTING ¥ Ve e By merely eliminating the excessive BOUND ' TRUTH 1IN i amount of corn (19 bushels) from the .Orb. Neb. ,.%t-;,é ration, a saving of $11.40 could have Edltor Nonpartisan Leader: ik been made and the feed bill' reduced . I am a member of the Nonpartisan eyi ™ very nearly one-half, or from $24 to league and getting the paper regular. ] $12.60 per cow. 3 1n very Wereathg. 1 couid nop e (U5 without ' it. is st paper a WL THIS FARMER SAVED farmer can take. Last night was the ke BY CAREFUL FEEDING : first time I ever heard a speaker that j Rations on the fifth farm inspected I got any truth from concerning the e o by the investigators were pronounced farmer and laborer, and I say that it o very satisfactory. They are given to was almost worth the membership fee /‘3&%«‘ illustrate 'how a farmer may grow to hear this speaker, Mr. Maxwell.og -5~ emergency forage crops to take the Colorado. I will go to every meeting S S place of hay when the hay crop is a possible in the future and assure my - T failure. : ~ friends and neighbars that it is worth: L £ This farm (240 acres) is in nnrth- v 'l‘he farmer who has t.he right kind of machinery and enough power, can low while and 'hope to. have more such, bushels, at 656 cents a bushel. As the average yield of corn on this farm was 50 bushels to the acre, and as the best corn was cut for fodder, the cows, considering the corn in the fodder and the additional grain fed, received a total of 22 bushels per head eastern Kansas. nty acres were mcorn, 2sinoat§, Bliinwhelt ‘and _"jf his land when the soil is in the right. condifion. Tlxe farmer who la.ek! - risks the loainx of a year’s eamingn. pounds of milk, containing 84.817 pounds of fat, equivalent to 43.52 pounds of butter., Her sire is King Pontiac Konigen .and her dam is Dretka Netherland 2nd Lass. She was bred by Julius V. Fredericks of Canajoharie, N. Y., and is now owned by Oliver Caba.na Jr. meefim in thw vicinity. : THEO. ALBERS