Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1895 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

FOOD FOR GROWTH. Whjn it is desired to force younir inimals to grow rapidly the food nust be of a character suitable for ;hat purpose. Bone and muscle are if more importance than fact. The inimal intended for market fattens ,’eadily as it approaches maturity, nit some of the young animals will mt fatten at all, as the food conluces more to growth than to fat. If the food is not adapted for pronoting growth, the young animal, ihough growing, will not gain as rapidly as when the food is more appropriate. It is the mineral matter n foods, Ijme, phosphoric acid, etc., that creates bone, and the protein, >r nitrogenous element, which proluces the muscles, cartilages, hide, ?tc, The carbonaceous matter, •producing fat, is only necessary for 1 young animal in warming the Jody. Animals gain more rapidly when very young than during any Pther period, and they require food if a varied character. To deprive I hem of some needed substance may put a check to their growth from vhich they may never fully recover. iVarmtli in winter is important also, ind with the suckling animal this is provided by the fat in the milk, but which the farmer converts into butler when the calf is taken from the •ow. I Corn and wheat, so largely used ts staple foods on the farm, are unsuitable for growingstock. The reason is that there is about one pound if lime in 1,000 pounds of corn or wheat,; which is insufficient for the purposes of the young animal, as pone cannot be produced unless the lubstanc.es of which it is composed ire present in the food. On the ioiitrary, red clover hay contains ibout twenty pounds of lime in 1.000 pounds, but the lime does not al ways ‘xist in foods in the form of phosphates, transformations occurring ifter the food is digested. Wheat pran which has been removed from the starch 6f wheat grain, as is well mown to those who understand how it is separated during the process of naking Hour, contains about seven times as much phosphate of lime as Ides corn. There are a grea”t many Moils which largely excel corn, wheat >r oats in their relative proportions if mineral matter. Protein is more ?asily obtainable than the mineral elements where an exclusive grain iiet is practiced. It is a deficiency if mineral matter that causes some young animals to make slow growth. Oiie of the advantages of limestone soils is that animals fed on the protects of such soils are largely beneiled and the young stock thritfr. To feed on one kind of food mostly s not economy, because the animal fails to derive proper nourishment t’hnrwfrom, and more eftpecial'v with

growing stock, which make a gain which proportionately far exceeds that of matured animals. Varied foods supply all wants, whether consisting of grain or vegetables or the products of mills. Linseed and cottonseed meals are rich in mineral e'ements and serve to balance the grain ration. Both bran and mid - dlings are excellent additions to bulky foods, not only because- they contain mineral matter largely, but also because they are concentrated. Rich sweet herbage of all kinds is relished by all classes of stock because such foods are varied and therefore supply what is needed. It is when clover hay and .grasses are allowed that grains may be given, as the food is then better balanced, which results in economy be cause the conditions are then more favorable for the greatest increase in growth and weight. SLAUGHTERING. Animals should never be killed while in an overheated or excited state, but should be kept quiet for twenty-four hours previously and Ted lightly on cooling food. Where cold storage rooms are available in which- the meat can afterwards be reduced to any required temperature, the killing may be done without injury in any weather; oilierwise, a cool, dry day, with the temperature not above forty-five or fifty degrees', nor below twenty degrees, is the most favorable. If the weather j,s wet or damp th« temperature should not be above thirty-five or forty degrees. Tup killing may btr done in warmer weather than this if the temperature on the following night falls to fortv decrees or below.t After killing, the carcasses should be hung without touching each other, and allowed ti remain for twenty-four hours or more until the animal heat has passed off and the temperature is forty degrees or less throughout. Meat thus treated may be shipped or kept for days in a temperature of forty-five decrees, or below, in wet. When the night following’the killing is warm the hindquarters of tin beeves qre sometimes slit open to allow them to cool more rapidly. Temperatures above fifty degrees, with moist air, damage green meats very quickly. Meat, and pariicu larly pork, that has been frozen and afterwards thawed, do -s not keep so well as that which has been simply chilled. Pjitk interfiled for curing shguklnever be frozen. Another way is to shell the corn and put it in the oven of the kitchen stove in a baking pan. Stir it at intervals and leave it until thoroughly charred, and if the weather is cold feed it as warm as you can bear your hand in it. The fowls like it r wonderfully well.