The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-05-12
Ghe 6armer.
sTALL-FEEDING CATTLE.

STALL-FEEDING CATTLE.
MIR. Henry Stewart, in the New York
Times. saws: 1t is related of the ancient
philosopher Cato that on being asked which
was the most certain profit arising out OF
agriculture, he replied: "To feed stock
we'll" IF we should ask any agricultural
expert at the present day the same ques-
ton, we should certainly receive the same
answer, for it not only islands to reason
that two profits are greater than one proht,
but it is the universal experience with the
best farmers that to feed the produce oi
the farm to stock and sell only the ultimate
and most concentrated form of these pro-
ducts is not only in the indispensable means
of maintaining the fertility of the farm, but
that it is the method by which the most
money is made ont of the soil. In agrlcul-
ture. as i'm other industries, it is found that
the greatest profit is in making from the
raw material the most finished products,
and so putting this raw material through
several processes to secure not only the rel
alive profit made upon each, but also TO
Gain the advantages which must necessarily
result from the saving of expense by rea-
son of combining several operations in one,
and avoiding freights and other charges IN
cidental to every change. Thus IN the
iron business the first operation is mining
the ore. the second smelling it into raw
pig-iron, the next is melting, pudding, and
rolling this iron into bars, rails, or sheets.
Formerly it was rare to find two processes
carried on in one establishment now it is
rare to find them carried on separately.
So it was with the cotton and the WOODEN
manufacture, and in all of the leading in
dustries. As agriculture is the first OF all
our industries, that it should be carried on
in the most economical manner IS the most
desirable for all concerned; because it gives
the farmer the most profit, while it gives
the consumer his meat at the lowest price
1t is everywhere admitted by stock men
that the profit gained in rearing cattle for
the market is rarely ever less than 40 per
cent. yearly, and figures are often given to
show that IS per cent. is frequently real
lied. And this is the result of feeding
cattle from birth to maturity. But it is a
well-known fact that there is still greater
profit in feeding a thin steer costing cents
a pound alive until it is worth cents
pound. because there is not only the gam
BY the increase in weight, let us say zOO
to 300 pounds in three months feeding, at
I cents pound, but the 2 cents pound
upon the whole weight of 900 pounds or
more. This, on the whole, is equivalent
to much greater profit than could be
GAINED from the sale of the crops that are
fed.
A regular system of feeding number of
cattle or sheep upon farms, as part OF the
farm work, of course necessitates the grow
ing of suitable crops for their support. 10
feed hav and corn would not certainly be
found very profitable, because these are the
most costly crops that can be grown upon
long-cultivated soil, and they are very sale
able and bring high prices But they can
not be produced under the ordinary system
of farming with sufficient profit unless un-
der exceptional circumstances, and this Is
the burden of the complaints made by farm
ers everywhere. Indeed, Eastern farmers
find it so costly to grow wheat and corn
that they are not even producing enough
in the great States of New York and Penn
sylyania, not to mention all the lesser States
adjacent to them, to supply the home con-
sumption of -four. Nor will these costly
and valuable crops be produced under any
other system than one of stall-feeding cat
tie and growing roots with which the straw
can be consumed, together with the use of
purchased feeding stuff of high nutrltlve
value, as linseed and cOttOn-seed cake meals,
which cost not more than, or not so much
as, oats and corn, and are twice as nutri
tious. Pasturage not being required every
acre of the farm is under cultivation, and
as one acre of roots with straw and pur-
chased feed can feed five head Of steers for
$50 days, the economy of land is very great,
a very large proportion Of the farm being
left to produce grain and hay for sale. So
that root-growing is a sine q~o NON of this
business and the key to the whole system.
Indeed, the stall or yard feeding Of cattle
for meat is very similar in every way to the
soiling or yard-feeding of COWS for the
dairy, and one of those special methods of
farming in which concentration and system
offer far more remunerative result than
common grain farming, and this for the
very sufficient reason that it takes the
bulky and least saleablc crops and changes
them into concentrated and very valuable
and saleable products, and at the same time,
from these least exacting proceeds of the
soil, is returned large quantity Of very
rich manure for the growth of grain crops.
1t is well-known that dairying has been
hitherto the most profitable kind of farm
ing, that it has brought more money into
the farmers possession, and has brought
his land meanwhile into more continu-
ously improving condition than any other
use to which the farm could have been ed
voted. But just now dairy products are
in excess Of the demand and consumption,
while meat is scarce and high in price, and
is evidently bound to sustain it high value,
no doubt, permanently. And these facts
show that there is an advantage just now
in changing from the dairy to feeding cat=
tle-Americdn Farmer.
The Value of Ensilage.