Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-10-11

In domestic state animals must
be treated artifcially. Just as the
civilized man, compared with the
savage, is artificial, SO must be the
domestic animal as compared with
the wild one.
In the rearing and management
of stock the farmer must be guided
by the circumstances surrounding
him. At the East, where not
enough bread grain is raised to
supply the necessities Of the popu-
lation, nor enough coarse grain to
feed the animals, large portion of
the grain for supplying their domcs-
tic animals must necessarily be
brought from that great granary,
the West, and therefore the condi-
tons for care and feeding must be
entirely different from what they
are in the West. At the East they
can we'll afford to employ even what
mechanical and chemical means
may be necessary to break down
and alter the structure of the grain
fed; for corn, at eighty cents to one
dollar a bushel, is a very different
commodity from which to make
beef, mutton and pork, from what it
is in the West, in many portions of
which it is only fifteen to twenty
cents per bushel.
AT fifty cents it will pay to grind
feed for stock. AT a higher valua-
ton it will pay to both grind and
cook the grain used, and indeed, it
is found economical in some Sec
tons even to steam the hay, straw
and chaff used.
In such localities the warmest of
stables are provided, and in extreme
eases, as with finc-brcd cattle, blan-
kcts arc used. In this case the an
imals become entirely artificial and
distinct in their habits and tastes
from the scmi-artiticial cattle of the
West and the higher the price of
grain, the more will it pay to use
every possible means, not only to
get all the substance possible from
the food given, but also to save ev.
cry atom, of waste by keeping the
stock warm 10y every known arti-
fetal appliance.
On the other hand, in the great
corn districts of the West, the feed
err finds it more profitable either to
feed the corn Just as cut up with
the fodder, or in the ear, and in
ending The husk, or husked, as put
into the crib, the animals requiring
hay, or its equivalent, in proportion
to the kind of feed given. The
feeder simply seeks situation
where the stock may be fed on clean
ground and have shelter from the
storms, the animals often not hav-
ing even the shelter of sheds.
10 prevent too great waste Of
forage, one or two shoats are pro-
vidcd to each steer to consume the
waste and CLEAN as we'll as may be.
However wasteful this may seem,
the profits are sure, and rs the
neighborhood increases in wealth
the feeders are not slow to use eye
ny means in their power to econo-
mize this waste as fast as it will
pay. There is no doubt that ami
mails so fed are more nutritious and
solid in their flesh, and more health
full as food for man, than those fed
on more succulcnt food, in heated
and confined stables. In fact, the
wcll-known superiority Of Western
pork and beef is easily traced to
this cause.-the feeding of whole
grain, and the necessary exercise
they are compelled to take in eating
it.
Much has been said and written,
from time to time, concerning the
various systems practiced in differ
ent sections Of the country, one con
demning what another considers
sound practice. The fact is, both
are right in their own locality, and
what is good practice with one
would be bad practice with another
and vice vers0;; for the practical
man in any given locality soon finds
the system which brings the quick
est and surest returns for capital
invested Western Rural.