Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-02-17
Fact. in Stock Raising.

Many farmers say 1t does not pay
to keen stock, and in point of fact,
they are very often in the right. /
can hardly e how it pays to keep a
wether sheep three years and six
months, getting say 81 for the three
feeces, and then selling him for So.
But I think 1t must be quite as pro-
tftable as to keep a steer the same
len 9Th of time and then sell him for
$50. Such q steer will eat as much
as eight or ten Merino sheep. But
the truth Is, we cannot expect to
make anything by keeping stock OF
any kind unless we keep, 1t well ; 1t
must be gaining all the time, If we
let a machine lie idle all that we
lose is the interest on the money
! which 1t cost. But an animal cam
not be kept idle.
t. It must eat every day and II 1t
| thS interest on the value Of the ami
NAL machine besides. Butmanyfarm-
ers not only keep them for weeksand
months together without their gain
ing anything, butt not unfrequent-
Iy happens that theanimals actually
decrease in weight. It has to live on
its own flesh and fat-which Is GER
tainly q very expensive food. Even
in the case Of well-fed pigs, which
store I'D more flesh and fat for the
food consumed than any other do
nestle animal for every pound Of
flesh and fat we get in the animal,
thew eat about ave pounds of food.
They use four pounds to live on and
give US n pound of flesh. And
| when we have got this one pound,
| how excessively wasteful 1t Is to feed
| the animal and have 1t worked over
again ; and yet this is precisely what
thousands Of farmers are doing to-day
with cows, sheep and pigs. No Won
der that excepting stock does not
pay" But good stock, fed literally
and with care and judgment, Will
pay better, all things considered,
| than any other branch of farming.
Good meat brings q good price, and Is
always in demand. 1t Is the seal
lawagsn that are hard to dispose of,
and always at q loss-A loss to the
producer and q loss to the consumer.
Those who buy such meat get little
besides bones and water. The poor
Lanimals haYeshad to live on their
town lat and their nutritious juices.
The first step in keeping good
! stock is to make the land dry and
| clean. The next IL to feed literally,
and this will insure good manure,
and that in its turn insures good
crops.
It is all very well to say that q
"peck of clover seed to the acre IL
the cheapest fertilizer" and that by
its free use We can dispense with
manure. I donot, dispute the truth
of this proposition. No one thinks
more highly Of clover than ] do.
But it only tells half the story.
Glover makes good food and good
manure too. An animal will take
out the food, convert IL into valuable
products, and leave the n be-
hind. Our aim should be dry, clean
land, more clover and rich grass,
more and better stock and more and
better manure. 4-af r
1t cannot be too often repeated,
however, that the value Of manure
depends onethe food and not on the
animals. A raw-boned steer, II. 1t
has the same food, viii make as rich
manure as the best Shorthorn in the
herd-book /; and the droppings OF q
Merino sheep living on cloyer-hay
and oil-cake are Just as valuable as
those from q Cotswold. Butethis Is
the point :: We cannot feed clover
hay and 'eil-cake to q Merino with
half the profit that we can to Q
Cotswold. The former is adapted to
live OF comparatively poor food and
grow slowly; the Ootswold has been
bred with especial reference to rapid
growth on rich food. So when we
adYocate keeping well-bred stock, dn
order to make rich manure, wed0 80
for the simple reason that we cannot
afford TO feed rich food 10 poor stock,
and without rich food we cannot
have rich manure.-lJ. Harris, In
| Am. A0riculturist.