The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-08-28
CATTLE FARMING.
A Factcr In Irnproved Agricuatrre-soMs
Suggestions.

~ G&UtSE IN Improved A&E1c04tUTG-S0EnW
Suggestions.
One of our Illinois correspondents
calls attention to the steadily changing
profits of cattle farming, the margin be-
coming less and less both for beef and
dairy products, and be thinks more con-
sideration must be given TO what he
calls the indirect income from cattle
farming improvement of the farm.
The account hasasually been, the cost
OF growing and fattening the cattle and
the market price, or the cost of keep
ing and labor expended upon the dairy
cow, and the market value of her prod
uct, no account being made of the re-
turn of cattle farming in manure.
He might have said that it is only a
lew years since the manure was consid-
cred nuisance in consequence of the
labor required to get it out of the way.
1t is well that farmers begin to think of
tie incidental compensations in cattle
Eusbandry. Large portions of Illinois
ceased to produce paying crops of
wheat, and this cereal had to be aban-
doned for some years. and more stock
was kept instead, This was the cause.
IN some localities, of introducing the
then new industry of dairying, and after
a few years these districts were again
successful in the wheat crop. Cattle
and grain farming must go together
they are compensation for each other.
This g indirect income y from cattle is
just what the grain farmers should
most carefully study. If they fully COM
prehend it, they would be much better
reconciled to lower prices for cattle and
dairy products. 9
The English farmer thinks himself
well compensated in feeding cattle if
he can get the manure for his labor. If
his cattle fully pay for all they con
sumo, he knows that the increase OF his
crops will figure up a satisfactory profit.
The English feeders cost of food is
much higher than the American feed
er's The former feeds largely of the
rich oiEcakes imported from this coun-
try, which in turn greatly enrich the
manure; but the American feeder fat
tens mostly upon corn, which being
composed so largely of starch and 9TH
eracarbo-hydrates that produce fat, does
not enrich the manure so much. The
manure from a ton of corn has only
about one. half the value of the manure
from ton of the best clover hay, and a
little more than one-fourth of that from
a ton of linseed meal, or cotton-seed
meal.
Prof. Sanborn has found wheat bran
to be more valuable for growing Young
cattle and pigs than corn meal, and
this is what might be expected from it's
composition, as it has much more ma
terial for the growth Of muscle and
bone; and the manure from a
ton of bran is worth double
that from ton of corn. If the manure
is all saved, it is worth the whole
cost of the bran, and, bran is cheap
fertilizer if applied directly to the crops.
But, OF course, it is still more profta.
BILE to feed and then apply the manure;
for the bran will fully pay its cost in
the growth of animals, and the manure
may then be had free. 1t may safely
be said that the manure from growing
or fattening cattle is worth one half as
much as the growth or gain on the cat
tie. And il the manure is fully saved
from an animal during its whole life, it
is worth, at least, one-balf as much as
the animal at market age. And if this
is safe calculation, as we believe, it is
certainly an item well worth consider
ing in the profits OF cattle farming.
This item will raise the present low
price to very satisfactory basis. The
first great reform in cattle feeding is to
devise means of more perfectly saving
the liquid and solid droppings, and, in
the stable, this can only be done by
using water-tight manure gutter, and
then applying both liquid and solid
droppings together, fresh to the soil
National LtVe Stock Journal.