Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1917 — MODERN CATTLE FEEDING METHODS [ARTICLE]

MODERN CATTLE FEEDING METHODS

Some Conclusions From An Experience Extending Oyer Marfy Years On a Combelt Farm. (By John j. Lawler.) Farming without ’• live stock is. in most cases, impossible, if investment security is given consideration. Any live stock will answer the purpose? my petference is cattle. Beefmaking -is a process of manufacture, to which the operator must give personal attention Ip detail. Like all manufacturers, He must aim to buy in the cheapest and sell in the highest market. If he does not succeed all the time, he cannot complain, as every business has periods of loss or stagnation. We have been feeding on our farms in Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana, and Cook county, Illinois, for a quarter of a century. These farms approximately 28,000 acres; most of the land is arable, and has increased in fertility. We work it on the farm unit system, which requires tenants to feed cattle, the object being to utilize roughness that would otherwise and maintain the grain-producing capacity of the soil. An inviolable rule with our tenantry is that everything must walk to except wheat and-oats.--ant the benefit of our capital and experience. He is a halfj-interest oartner in the operation, his sole responsibility being the proper care of the stock. Some tenants have 'been reluctant to do business that way, and to give them an opportunity we buy their share of the crop one season, pay their wages to feed it to cattle and if thev are not then converted to our idea the alternative is to vacate the property. We want none of the winter-idling variety of tenant that is impoverishing cornbelt soil; work all the year round is our unalterable, policy. While our cattle feeding is naturally done on a large scale, the farm unit system makeg it simple... Ourplan may be easily adopted by any occupant of a 160-acre farm in the combelt, owner or tenant. All that

is necessary to insure success is to buy stock cattle right, handle them with a view to putting on cheap gains and select the proper selling time. System is essential to' success in any business. Unfortunately much cattle feeding has been done in a haphazard manner. Our system may be briefly described. We buy stock cattle at those regularly recurring seasons when ccst at the market is lowest, sell whenever any particular grade of steers is highest, aim to double weights while ..the cattle are in our hands, and make them pay their way with the gains. Silage and the roughage that otherwise would be largely wasted constitute our chief feeds. We use some concentrates to balance the ration, but aim to spend as little money as passible, nnd I believe we can grow some such nitrogenous feeds as cowpeas or soybeans on our Indiana soils, thus enabling us to avoid an outlay for cottonseed meal. Everything needed by the cattle feeder lias been going up and he must make himself independent of the feed price manipulators, if possible. . We long ago determined that cattie feeders could not gamble and expert remunerative returns. Experience has taught us that when we buy a yearling weighing 709 to 800 pounds, carry it along until it has attained a weight of about 1,200 pounds, using it to convert farm herbage that otherwise would have little value, and adding about $2 per cwt. to the original cost of the steer, we have a comparativelysafebusiness,

During the past four years the selling price of our cattle on the Chicago market has averaged S9O per head, and a large proportion of that money came out of our soil. We find that when cattle grow up on the place they give maximum results, and prefer to buy them as near home as possible. Preference is always given northernbred cattle, by reason of their ruggedness and gaining qualities. Feeders should avoid the non-stretching, little stuff that comes out of the south- . west and rarely makes money for the handler. The profit in cattle lies In getting the natural growth. Stockers should be bought in thin flesh, with as much quality as possible. Get them off grass, if possible, and never, take a warmed-up steer that has been fed a generous com ration, pntless high feeding is to be continued. A stage has been reached in working these high-priced lands where summer pasture must be abandoned. We are now pasturing rough lane only. The difference between $8 worth of grass and S3O worth of com tells why. Two years ago I had a drove of steers that had been sol dto go into an adjoining county, but could not be delivered, owing to quarantine, consequently we were forced to feed them out. They were doing so well on silage in a-dry lot that although we had plenty of grass I determined to carry them along. They were val-. ued at $7.65 on Dec. 6, weighing 1,050 pounds, and went to market the third week in July at 1,493 pounds, realizing $9.60-. We let them- run- in stalkfields and to straw in a cheao way until the middle of January,‘when they went into a feed lot, getting 15 pounds of silage and some roughage daily, the silage being increased in 30 days up to 50 pounds and in six weeks to 60 pounds. They were started on 1 pound of cottonseed daily, which was gradually raised to 5 pounds until shipping time. Six weeks before shipping they were given 1-8 of a bushel of com daily, which in three weeks was increased to a peck, and continued until shipping. That experiment convinced me that we cannot keep land in grass that is capable of growing a cam crop. In a season of drouth pasture yields little feed, but a crop of silage is certain, and com** grown in a dry year makes a fine grade of silage. We figure that an average cost ■>! ,a ton of silage Tyith qorn, at 60 cents per bushel, which, will be an average price over a series of years, is $3.50, and that it has a feeding value of approximately $5. With land' worta $5 to $8 per acre in grass, the eco-

nomy ‘of cultivating can be feaLized. Our cattle kept.in the dryiot all summer are tpoublpd but little with flies, and make gains at a period when those on pasture usually shrink. I know that sentiment attaches to bluegras3j but where the plow can run, grass has no place under new conditions. Pasture cannot compete with 8 toiO tons of silage. « Gs?m plaint has been made that cattle do not thrive on silage, and those responsible for it doubtless had cause; but the faulf. was theirs. A common error is the laying in of steers that have been warmed up because they are in decent flesh, and the operator wishes to make a quick turn. This is a certain method of beginning wrong. Such cattle have been fed a liberal com ration for a short period, have become accustomed to luxury, so to speak, and when taken back to the country to go on a poorer ration, such as silage, they naturally “go back.” If the feeder had bought qualified cattle, thin in flesh, either off grass, or that hpd been fed only roughage, trey would have responded to silage promptly and paid their way. Many try to continue old methods after building silos, and disgustedly declare that it-is a failure; whereas they were trying to accomplish the impossible: : • -• • --•.’•-'e------•• Making profitable gains with silage is a certainty if the proper kind of cattle is used. Thin-fleshed steers, bought in the fall, roughed through the early part of the winter, then put oq> silage, and fitted for the early summer market, before grass -becomes a simply, factor, will invariably pay a substantial profit. We feed silage to suci\cattle as run in pasture during the 'summer, reducing the quantity one-third. This is profitable, especially during such dry seasons as 1916, cattle going right along as though grass were plentiful. The silo is an effective insurance against dry season handicaps and “if this system were in general use much of the ruinous liquidation that is imperative during drouths would be unnecessary.

Every year toward the approach of winter cattle markets go through a period of demoralization. At that Bmp jfc-isK usually possible toiayin stock cattle., around $6 per cwt. that along toward the following spring are able to make a better selection. . By utilizing roughage and silage the winter process is profitable, and the feeder, instead of being- under the necessity of going into a competitive market in the spring, has his cattle acclimated, thrifty and ready for summer feeding, either on pasture or in the dryiot. They have been paying their way with daily gains, meanwhile, if properly handled, they will show a profit at that stage. We buy pur cattle on this system, and 25 years’ experience has demonstrated its soundness. Such cattle can be put in decent flesh for the early summer market when killers are not particular about quality and pay the righest prices of the year for bullocks decently covered with beef. It is an infallible system, because fall gluts of cattle occur as regularly as the leaves are torn off the calendar*, and along toward the rise of grass the following year such steers attain a maximum value. ~~r~~. °

Now .that western cattle no longer fill packers’ freezers with cheap beef in the fall, the position of the feeder operating in this manner is fortified, as with no reserve stocks to fall back on, packers are forced to pay relatively high prices for medium and cheap bullocks in the spring. Steers rated as canners and throwouts in the fair are beef in the spring. The time to buy stock catlTe is when they are cheap, but to do so the purchaser piust be prepared to take care of them, and nothing is better calculated to put him in that position than a supply of silage. The man who intends to make money handling cattle hereafter must be prepared to winter, them. This is hot a business exclusively for the big feeder. The 80-acre man can get into it with little capital and get quick returns. It Is a system that has gained a footing in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other eastern states. In the middle west we are accustomed to brag about the scale on which we do things, but even in Indiana and Illinois our methods are out of date. Two Pennsylvania farmers frequently buy a load of cheap stock cattle between them, in the fall, fatten them during the winter in a cheap manner that would arouse dirision in the west, and make a tidy profit, in addition to the manure, which is their primary object. In the tobacco sections of Pennsylvania they ensure the success of their chief crop in this manner, but their cattle, ’bought at the cheap period and sold in the spring, when cheap steers are high, invariably pay well. We in the west have a lot to learn from our economical neighbors in the east, especially in the matter of maintaining soil fertility. One has only to contrast grain yields on our Indiana farms where cattle feeding has been systematically carried on for 25 years past with the meagre and rapidly diminishing returns on untenanted properties that have been grained until they are ready for the soil renovator. - The 80-acre farmer could keep 45 acres of his Jand in corn, put up 300 to- 400 feus of silage and handle as many cattle as would be possible on a 120 acre pasture. His soil would rapidly improve, especially if he spent a moderate sum for concentrates, and he would make a cash market for his straw and fodder. A silo should be part of the equipment of every farm. Our silos cost S9OO, are of concrete construction, and hold about 550 tons. They are 20 feet in diameter and 62 feet in height, with 6-inch walls. The interest charge on such a silo is only $45 yearly and it is the best investment we have. I believe the time is not,Ear distant when every acre of arable land in the combelt will be under plow, pasture being confined to rough areas, and that it will be profitable to sec-d silage to cattle on grass. I do not claim that our system of ■handling cattle is the best. It is, however, adapted to our conditions and "needs. Many art* securing excellent results by bidding and marketing yearlings, but I do not believe the average farmeT is by nature or experience adapted to that business. It

... it,■ —-r - ' is a specialty, requiring experience and care. But anyone can take a bhneh light stock cattle through the winter on silage and roughage, and if he has bought the right kind at the right price, he cannot lose money. 1 It is axiomatic that-the profit is in the gain, and when I double the weight of a bullock while he is in my possession, even if I keep him a year tq do it, close figuring is not"* necessary to determine that he has been profitable, if he has subsisted mainly on such home-grpwn feeds as we use. Complaint has been made that feeding has degenerated into a gamble. This may be true, but those who have reduced it to that condition of uncertainty have departed from rational methods. For myself I cannot conceive of a system of farming in which beefmaking does not constitute an important Dart.