Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1892 — LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY. [ARTICLE]

LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY.

Fattening Farmer Com. It -is .a-difficult question to solve—to fatten farrow cows economically. Wheat straw serves merely to furnish a -coarse fodder to mix with the grain foods without yielding much nutriment. But if the straw is well cut and the other foods are of good quality we think the following combination will effect his purpose: Fourteen pounds owt wheat straw, 2 pounds wheat brau, 4 pounds ground -damaged beans, 4 pounds -eo-m-meal and 3 pounds ft. P. linseed meal, the digestible nutriments of which are shown in the following formula, in pounds: Album!- Car bail olds. hydrates. Fat 11 pounds cut wheat straw.. u. 11 fi.o4 0.06 2pounds wheat bran 0.23 0.98 0.16 4 pounds ground bean5....0.80 8.00 0.05 4 pounds commeal 0.33 2.52 -0.19 3 pound O.P. linseed meal.. 0.81 OAt Q.lB Totals 2.81 1L32 453 Nutritive ratio 1 to 5. 4. This is a well-balanced milk ration, and if Miese cows are in good, fair condition suould make good progress in laying on fat, as well-as yielding rich milk. The average yield of butter for a lot of good farrow cows on this ration should be between four and five pounds per head per week; hut C. has not given any description of his cows by which any dflser approximation can he madq. He will not find all his cattle to fatten, alike* some may require a longer time to get in condition for the butcher.—Country Gentleman. Cattle Raising In Mexico. Cattle raising has become one of the most important Mexican industries. In the Northern States of Mexico there roamed in 1885 over an area of 300,000 square miles 1,500,000 horned cattle, 2,500,000 goats, 1,000,000 sheep, 1,000,000 horses and 500,-

000 mules. There were then 20,514 j cattle ranches valued at 8515,000,000 which number of value has greatly increased during the last seven years. The stock-raisers of the United States lose thousands of cattle every year owing to rigorous winters and severe summers, while in Mexico perennial spring smiles on man and beast In Bulletin No. 9, from the Bureau of American Republics at Washington, figures are given of the profits of a cattle ranch of 617 acres, situated 249 miles from a large city and fifty miles from the nearest railway station. The land cost $4.86 per acre and at the end of two years the business had entirely reimbursed the outlay and given a profit of $8,327 besides, while the profits of future years were estimated at 70 per cent, on the capital invested. Many of these cattle arc exported to the United States. Waate or Feed. Thousands of farmers still feed good fodder from the ground without racks in all weather, says a writer, and let their colts and other young stock run over the farm and pick their living from fence corners and stalk fields. An equal number waste quantities of coarse fodder every winter, which, if properly economized, might do much toward supporting stock well sheltered. Why don’t more of us apply some of the good advice given us and work systematically on this feeding problem, buy less hay and more cotton-seed meal and lay up money? Many of us are too lazy to even try a balanced ration. We act as if afraid to adopt something a a little out of our usual rut. There is nothing very fearful about four quarts of bran and a pint of oil meal, nothing complicated, but it will make a covy do better when put on cut, wet stalks and poor hay than the finest timothy. It doesn’t cost much either —3Jc., and besides lining the purse it fattens the farm. Tha Cowy Smell In Milk. There is no powder or anything else of that nature that can he put in milk to prevent it having that strong smell from the cows and stable. You could be prosecuted for adulteration if you used anything of this kind. Take your milk-out of the stable as soon as It is drawn from the cow. Aerate by pouring it slowly from one pail to the other or by using an aerator, which is better. This will take out all such smells and will help to keep the milk sweet longer. Carding the cow, and even washing the bag may be necessary to keep the milk clear of the fine particles of manure that are almost certain to fall into the milk pail. Metes. The best blooded stock in the world is in the United States. Sheep husbandry will unquestionably increase during a few years to come. The high price -of grain and feed requires good stock to feed it to, to pay a profit as it should-on the feed and on the stock. Scrub stock will not do that. Try to raise horses -of -as -uniform quality as possible, but u niformly good. By so doing a team -may be mated up and sold at a higher price than the two would bring if sold separately. Get a good, first-class cow, give her plenty -of good, first-class food, with good water, and yet -neglect to make her comfortable An the stable, and we shall fail to get-out of her all that we might. We d-o not advise feeding turn-lps to mil-cJa nows. Not that they will always impart a -flavor -to the butter, and perhaps never will, -if fed just before milking, but there are other roots that are batter and which never flavor the butter under any -circumstances. To distinguish genuine butter from oleomargarine the following test 1 is recommended: Draw a knife through a piece of the questioned butter, and separate the parts thus divided. If it-ever saw the inside-of a churn there will be watery -exudations in the track us the knife; but -if it is a combination-of prepared and disguised tot there will be a smooth, greasy surface -only. The test is largely used by butter-merchan ts.