Connecticut western news., 1884-04-02
Feeding for Profit.

The Northwestern Dairymen's Asso- citation met at Mankato, Minn. As an indication of the practical value of the proceedings of these meetings, 1t was mentioned that several hundred copies of the report of the previous years meeting had been called for and sold to persons who were not members. The present years meeting was certainly of equal interest to practical dairymen. The following extracts from published reports are selected as specimens of how usefully the Minnesota dairymen can employ their time in practical talk. MT. 0. F. Howard, of Crystal Lake, dis cussed Feeding for Profit" He said:
 "A well-fed COW brings profit to her owner: poorly-fed COW is bill of ex- pense to him. The dairyman should make use of every available food to in crease the flow of milk, and one of the cheapest is pumpkins. Milk contains 85 per cent. of water; pumpkins have 90 per cent. of water, and 10 per cent. of solid or muscle-forming food, about the same that timothy hay contains. Cows relish variety of food; change of diet sharpens their appetite. A feed of roots given to COW will make her relish her grain ration better, and every dairyman should raise a good supply of them. Mangel wurzels are splendid food for milch COWS and calves. You can grow mangel wurzels at cost of 1 cent for 20 pounds; cents for 100 pounds; $l per ton. What other food of equal value can be purchased for five times that amount |? There is none.
 During the past two years there has been lively demand for young stock to drive to Montana, and the farmers of Minnesota have sold thousands of their yearlings and 2-year-olds for that pur- pose. This is poor policy. The object of raising calves is to get the profit on their growth, and if we sell before they come to maturity we lose it on all they gain thereafter. It costs about $24 to keep steer in Minnesota the first three years, and he will weigh then about HOO pounds, and sell for cents per pound, or $44. Deduct cost of keeping, $24, and 1t leaves profit of $20. Now, if we keep him another year, or until he is 4 years old, he has nearly come to maturity, will weigh 1,500 pounds, and sell for 5 cents, or $75 for the steer, and the account will stand as follows: Cost of steer at 3 years old, $24; cost of keeping fourth winter, $6; cost of herd ing one summer, $1; 30 bushels of corn at 30 cents per bushel, fed in the fall, $9; total cost of steer at years old, $4I. Forty-one dollars deducted from S75 leaves $34 as the profit, $14 of it being made the last year, which proves beyond doubt that it is for the farmers in- terest to keep his steers until they are 4 years old before selling them, if it is possible for him to do so. Cornmeal is perhaps the best food to fatten a steer quickly, but its value in oats and bran fed to a COW will produce more milk than corn alone. Pure oil-cake-meal is valuable food for all kinds of stock; 8 handful of it mixed in a pail of sweet skinned milk makes as good feed fo1 the calf as new mllk, and it is considered by those who have had experience in its use to be one of the best and most profitable foods we have. For the past two winters have fed unthrashed flaz to my stock and am well pleased with | the resT1ts ''