The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1878-11-22
farluers' Column.
Speed the PLOlU.o
Winter Fattening Live Stock.

The time has come when farmers are be-
ginning to ask themselves what stock they
shall buy to feed this winter. 1t is i'm
practicable, and in my opinion unprofta-
BILE, to summer as much stock as should be
kept during the winter, to consume coarse
fodder and coarse grain that should be fed
ON the farm. Sheep and young cattle are
generally preferred-sheep especially, be
cause they will work up more coarse feed
than any other stock into valuable manure.
But there is not always profit in sheep,
and the probable low prices for pork and
other meats make farmers cautious. Some
good farmers feed sheep or steers regularly
every winter without regard to profit
Don't ask me-" said one of them to me a
year or go ago, when I asked him how
much money value of corn he had fed to
some fat steers l was looking at. 81 make
it rule never to sell any corn or OATS
Sometimes get pay for it, but oftener not.
What care most for is in always getting
pile of rich manure, and my land is con-
stantly growing more productive" Not
many farmers have the courage to follow
this policy, yet whenever they do, such
farmers are the wealthiest and most sue
cessful in their neighborhoods. This indi-
Gates that more money is lost from half
crops grown at great labor and expense in
the summer, than from half price for hay.
cornstalks and coarse grain fed in the win.
ter 1t is rare that some return, though
small, is not got from winter fed grain, and
this, with the manure, is worth more than
the full price of coarse grain in money.
Undoubtedly there is more gain to the
soil from fattcning animals than from
growing them. The increase in a fully
grown animal is mostly carbon-the CHEAP.
est and most abundant element of plant
food. But in making bones, wool and
milk, there are large losses of phosphate
of lime and nitrogen. In England former
ly this fact was recognized in the price of
animals. A full-grown animal sold for
more per pound before fattening than af.
terward. Here we think ourselves verv
unfortunate if the tattened animal does not
bring one to two cents per pound more
than before it has been fed. One cent per
pound increase in price makes, with the
gain in weight, very fair pay for feeding
sheep.
Hogs make less manure for the value of
their food than any other animal; but
what they do make is of the best. II ia
generally claimed that hogs make more
flesh from the amount of grain than any
other animal, yet doubt whether at pres
ent low prices of corn hogs pay for the
grain they consume in most farmers hands.
One trouble is that much of the grain ia
lost by wasteiulness in feeding. Bushels
of ears of corn thrown into a mixture of
mud and manure will not fatten hogs rap
idly. AS the weather becomes colder the
waste will be greater. 1t seems more
wasteful to feed soft corn to COWS or other
cattle because so much is voided in the
excrement, yet believe it will pay better,
especially if fed at this season to milch
cows Our late falls, last year and this,
are leaving cattle in pasture long after the
heritage is exhausted. There is little
growth of any grass after the middle of
September, and usually before October
closes, COWS will shrink in their milk un-
less fed something in addition to what
they can find in pasture. Sowed corn is
the natural substitute for grass during the
hot dry weather Of August. At this sea-
son, as cold and rain pinch the cows, they
need something more substantial. Soft
corn and small nubbins come in as the
most natural and best supply.-Countrv
Gentleman.