The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-04-28

Read before the Elk Grove Farmers Club
by q. vi. Richards.

Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen The
question for discussion this evening is of
great importance to us farmers, and to
the community generally.
Ii has been said no CATTLE no manure;
no manure, no crop or in other words
cattle are by common consent the best
animals to convert its product into ma
nure. AS we cannot keep cattle for the
purpose of keeping manure alone, and
as the end of all cattle kind is sooner or
later expected to be beef, the question
is properly asked how we can fatten
them the cheapest. 1t is argued by
some, and with good show of reason,
that grass is the cheapest and best food
for cattle, that it will put on more
weight in given length of time than
anything else. Admitting all this, yet
the fact is before us that we want fat
cattle all of the time, in winter as we'll
as in summer, and we also want the
coarse products of the farm, such as hay,
straw and cornfodder, converted into
manure. 1t would be impossible to sup
ply the market with grass fattened cat
tie. So it is a matter of necessity, if not
one of choice, that we shall feed cattle
Some argue that grain cannot be fed to
cattle with profit, that the hog is the
only animal that will make flesh at q
profit out Of grain.
1t is true | have known n great deal
of good corn fed cattle where it took
sixty bushels to make two hundred lbs.
of beef. The grain took the place Of
shelter. 1t kept up the vital functions
of the animal and made the bee" be-
sides. 1t is equally true that | have
known Of vast quantities of corn fed to
hogs, that 60 bushels did not make more
than 500 lbs. of pork, and | doubt as
hogs are usually fed if the average is
much more. 1t is a fact known TO every
one that it takes Il certain amount of
food to sustain an animal so that he
will neither gain nor lose in flesh, and
that it takes very much more in our
climate if that animal is exposed TO all
of the severity of the weather during
our lSng winters. | do not think that
any one will dispute the assertion that
he who keeps an animal and feeds so
as to Just keep him where he is, has lost
both his labor and his feed; the only re-
turn he gets is the manure, and poor at
that. If he suffers him to fall off he has
lost labor, feed and part Of his animal.
Now, | am we'll convinced from long
experience in feeding cattle in all I'M
aginable ways-l have fed indoors and
out, whole corn and ground corn, and
cooked have turned them into corn
field to help themselves-that if we
protect our cattle from the storms and
cold and feed with cheap, coarse food,
such as hay, straw or cornfodder, we can
sustain them, or in other words run the
machine; that grain properly fed to
them will give as great and even greater
returns than if fed to hogs. In stall
feeding it is absolutely necessary that
your cattle should be so arranged that
every one should get his proper share OF
food with absolute certainty and perfect
regularity. This hap-hazard way OF
feeding, where some eat more than they
should and others do not get enough, is
cattle. And | would say farther that
the eye of the feeder should be ever on
his stock; that he should not feed al
any one time more than they will eat
up clean.
In speaking of the kind and prepare.
ton of food for fattening cattle can
not do better than to quote l.. f. Allen
He says, " finely cut hay or cornfoddei
with finely ground corn meal is the very
best way possible to put flesh on any
Illuminating animal, and that the fodder
should be so proportioned as to fill the
stomach, with meat enough added tC
give all the nourishment necessary il
the way Of fattening." These proper
tons will have to be varied according as
the weather is mild or severe, less grair
being required in mild weather anc
more in severe; this must be a matter o
close observation with the intelligent
feeder. My experience leads me to be
lieve that from four to six quarts of mea
per day under the above conditions il
about the amount necessary for the mos
rapid and economical feeding of cattle
Such, gentlemen, deem the perfection
Of stall feeding.