Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-07-11
Feeding Stock-Inquiries Answered.

Feeding Stock-Inquiries Answered.
(From the Country Gentleman.l
). E6rards Todd Il have been very
proftably interested in your articles on feed
ing stock, and 1 hope you will continue them.
We want volumes of just such articles-some-
thing that is practicable for common farmers.
Will you allow stranger to ask you few
questions; not, hswever, as a catechist, but as
an inquirer after truth, and it will bs quite as
satisfactory to me--and will benefit others,
probably, if you will answer in the Country
Gentleman
1. am IN great doubt about there being 80
much profit in feeding stock, as yourself and
John Johnston speak Of. Now can you ex-
plain to me why I cannot make feeding stock
others?
2. Mr. John Johnston says GA steer, with
first rate pasture, should gain 400 pounds in
season of pasturing." Now, is that possible,
| and how does it accord with your experience?
): have a few steers, three years old this
spring, which I have been feeding the winter
past, and they are tolerable good beef, but not
6rst rate: They will weigh from twelve to
fourteen hundred pounds each, live weight,
and can sell them to butchers for $40 each
Now if you were in debt, as I am, would you
sell them for $40 each, or would you keep
them until another spring? These inquiries
must suffice, although I would like to ask
many others. E. D. f.
WatsrtO,o~, ". T., March 80, 1861.
L. To remove a mans doubts about feeding
stock being a profitable business, would be
almost like draining q wet field without a
good outlet. Of course, nor any other man
can tell, when at distance, why a man fails
In his efforts to feed stock with profit, but
could the system Of farm management, and
stable management, and cattle management
be sill spread out before US, it would be very
easy task to determine where the leakage is.
As to the profit of feeding stock, there is
not shadow Of doubt in my own mind I
know there is great profit in it, when every
thing connected with the business is conduct
ed systematically, and with proper refer
ence to the improvement OF the soil. Feeding
| stock and raising grain, in order to be attend
ed with the greatest profit, must 20 hand in
hand. 1t will not answer to look simply to
the value OF the stock, which have consumed
tn, products of the farm; we must have an
eye on the increased amount of grain which
the manure of the stock will produce, over
and above the amount that would have been
raised, had there been no manure applied to
the soil.
For example, suppose we feed q lot of cattle
one hundred dollars worth Of grain, and by
very close figuring, We barely get market price
for that grain, making no account Of the labor
required to take care of them. Where is the
profit. Why, if all the manure is carefully
saved and judiciously applied to the soil, and
If the soil ia drained as it should be, the ma
| nure will produce so much more grain, than
| would have grown without it, that any reason
able man will discover at glance that here
in the greater crop Of grain-he receives an
| ample remuneration for his services while feed
| ing his stock, and also for the interest on the
| capital invested while he was preparing his
| stock for market
If friend E. D. p will investigate this sub
ject, he will doubtless discover that his stock
is not exactly of the best kind to take on flesh
well, or that he has not kept them growing all
| the time from year to year, or that he has
| oyerstocked his pastures in the summer, or
| that he hes not saved, and applied in the best
| manner all the manure to his felds, or that
his soil has been too wet to allow the manure
| TO benefit the crops as much as 1t would have
l uons had IL been thoroughly drained. Here
| is long chain Of very important contingeD-
| cies, which have a very important influence in
| feeding stock with profit and if only one link
is wanting, there will be q bad leakage in the
| profits Of the business
| 2. Mr.. John Johnston wants nothing at all
to fully substantiate his assertion. with refer
| ence to the number OF pounds which steer
! should increase during one season. He spoke
| q great distance within bounds, and my expe-
| rience fully endorses and exceeds this state
| ment. will pen q few facts with reference
to the poorest calves ever raised.
Four years ago this spring, as many farmers
had recommended feeding oalves, instead of
| allowing them 70 suck, | thought we would
! try our success in that mode Of raising calves;
| and go we fed them milk as soon rs it WAS
drawn from the cow udder, for several weeks,
| and then began to mingle skinned milk with
| it, and also a little wheat -four. But they
! soon were attacked with the scours, and in
| the fall was go mortified at their appearance,
that l resolved never to try to raise another
calf by hand.
| During the succeeding winter they were fed
cut cornstslks in the morning, cut feed, with
quart Of meal each at noon, and hay at
| night. Two or three times week they would
| get few quarts each Of roots. The next
| summer they increased about three hundred
| pounds each. The next winter they got corn
stalks in the morning, and ost and barley
straw during the day, with peck of turnips
each at noon, and hay at night. In the spring.
when turnips failed, they received about y
quart of corn and oat meal each, daily. When
| they were turned to grass, the meal was dis
| continued, and when those steers were twen-
| ty-nine months old, they weighed from twelve
hundred to twelve hundred and sixty pounds
each. They were worth four cents per pound,
live weight. Steers that raise by allowing
| them to suck for three months, have always
been heavier than these at that age.
3. I would not sell steers of that weight for
| that price, unless the sheriff were after me,
and could hire no money. Don't be afraid,
| if you are few dollars in debt. Keep your
steers improving. Have them weighed occa-
sionally. Don't let them fall away next fall
nor winter; and next spring, having given
them four quarts Of meal each, all winter,
begin TO increase their daily allowance uatil
you feed them eight quarts each, daily, if
they viii eat it readily. Let them run to
grass about two or three weeks and sell them
| by weight. Such steers will weigh like q
chunk Of lead. Farmers seldom get the fair
! value of their fattened steers, becsuse they do
not know the weight Of them. They should
know about how much an animal will weigh,
and how much 1t II worth per pound, live
weight, and then ask It, or they will never get
It. 8. EDWARDS TopD.