The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-09-05
The farnter.
cattlo and Improved Agriculture.


One Of the correspondents of the LiUe
Stock Journal having called attention to
the steadily chahging profits of cattle farm
ing, the margin becoming less and less both
for beef and dairy products, he thinks more
consideration must be given to what ecalls
the indirect income from cattle farming
improvement of the farm, the account haV-
ing usually been the cost of growing and
iattening the cattle and the market price,
or the cost Of keeping and labor expended
upon the dairy COW, and the market value
Of her product, no account being made OF
the return Of cattle farming in manure.
The editor says he might have said that
il is only few years since the manure was
considered a nuisance in consequence Of
the labor required to get it out OF the way
1t is well that farmers begin to think OF
the incidental compensation in cattle hus-
bandry. Large portions of Illinois ceased
to produce paying crops of wheat, and this
cereal had to be abandoned for some years,
and more stock was kept instead. This
was the cause, in some localities, OF intro
ducing the then new industry Of dairying,
and after few years these districts were
again successful in the wheat crop. Cattle
and grain farming must go together-they
are a compensation for each other. Ihls
indirect income from cattle is just what the
grain farmers should most carefully study.
If they fully comprehended it, they would
be much better reconeiled to lower prices
for cattle and dairy products.
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 consume, he knows
that the increase Of his crops will figure up
satisfactory profit. The English feeder
cost of food is much higher than the
American feeders. The former feeds large
" of the rich oil cakes imported from this
country, which in turn greatly enrich the
manure; but the American feeder fattens
mostly upon corn, which being composed
so largely of starch and other carbohydrates
that produce fat, does not enrich the ma
nure so much The manure from ton
of corn has only about one-half the value
of the manure from ton of the best clover
hav. and little more than one-fourth OF
that from 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 its composition, as
iS has much more material for the growth
of muscle and bone; and the manure from
ton of bran is worth double that from a
ton Of corn. IF the manure is all saved, it
is worth the whole cost of the bran, and,
as we have shown in the Journal, bran is
cheap fertilizer if applied directly to the
crops. But, of course, it is still more pro-
ftable to feed and then apply the manure;
for the bran viii 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 cattle. And If the
manure is fully saved from an animal dur
ing its whole life, it is worth, at least, one
half as much as the animal at market age.
And if that is a safe calculation, as we be-
lieve, it is certainly an item well worth con-
sidering 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