Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1892 — LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY. [ARTICLE]

LIVE STOCK AND DAIRY.

The Cattle Industry. There are very few farms in our whole Country where the cattle Industry may not profitably be made to supplement the cultivation of crops. If the products of the soil are converted into beef, milk, wool, pork, etc., by intelligently feeding them out to good stock, the farmer may calculate in getting the ultimate value' that' is contained in them. When sold from* the farm the products pass through the hands of various dealers and manufacturers, each of whom procures some profit. By feeding the farmer turns manufacturer himself, and, besides this, he saves one important element of value (the fertilizing properties) of which no one else would take any account. To farm without stock entails one of two things—the buying of commercial manures or the constant deterioration of the soil. It shpuld not be difficult for any man to determine what course to pursue, in the face of such an alternative.—Wisconsin Agriculturist. * To Prevent Los, ol Profit*. The market reports quote light hogs about one-half cent higher than heavy hogs. By light hogs are meant those weighing less than 200 pounds when dressed and by heavy ones, 200 pounds and over. The ex-

pertinent stations have very clearly shown that the heavier a hog weighs the more it costs for every pound of gain. The Massachusetts experiment station, in a series of experiments extending over five years, found that New England farmers cannot make money by raising pork at 6c dead weight with pigs weighing over 175 or 180 pounds when cressed. The experience of hundreds of practical farmers has been the same. Yet thousands of farmers persist in raising 300 and 400-pound hogs. They know that every pound of gain over 200 pounds costs all or more than it brings in, yet they persist in feeding their heavy hogs. At a recent institute a farmer asked the expert who gave an address on feeding swine, if there was auy money feeding 80-cent corn to a hog weighing over 200 pounds. He said that he could raise his hogs to 200 pounds all right, but in getting them from there to 400 pounds he lost money. Of course he did and he knew it, yet the habit of feeding to this weight was so fixed that he would not change. The farmer will feed his 400-pound hogs until he dies, but his sons have either left the farm distrusted with it, or else go in for making money by new methods when they get in charge.— Farm and Home. Chopped May for Cow*. Some extended trials have been made of chopped and unchopped hay for milch cows, and the results give no evidence that there is any grain from cutting the fodder. It is necessary to have a wide range of tests made before the general fact that it never pays to chop feed is fully established. It is a fact well worth knowing.