Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-12-30


part of the grain for summer use By
this course / have had cattle net me, free
of all expense, S5 per month per steer
for fifty days. Computing their cost.
their selling price, feed and interest, it
figured up at the rate of just $50 per
cent. per year, but having made such
rapid gains early in the season it would
have been ruinous to hold them in an
ticipation of their keeping it up.
Having given you some facts and
figures on Summer Feeding l will now
speak of
WINTER FEEDING.
For winter feeding am very partial
to the shock corn system, with hogs as
an auxiliary. believe it is the cheapest
feed we can produce and there are sever
al strong economical advantages con-
uec:ed with its use. In the first place
with it we need little or no hay, with
out 1t we must have hay. Ear corn with
out hay is not suitable ration with
which to feed for any length of time.
Even with good straw the cattle soon
tire of it. They will not fatten well
without greater and better variety of
feed. The fodder of the corn when
properly cut is nearly equal to the best
tame hay in nutriment. This fact has
been developed by the best feeders
and is backed by analysis of our
best chemists, from those researches we
can learn great deal of value to us,
concerning the proper mixing of the
various foods, their relative digestiability
and nutritive qualities. If you husk
your corn it is done late in the fall when
the days are short and usually so late
that the ground can't be plowed until
spring. If your help is careless or the
weather bad and corn down under the
snow, as is often the case, a portion of
it never gets into the wagon In Wis
consin it takes good average husker to
husk an acre day-few viii do more.
An acre of corn husked the old way,
leaving the stalks and fodder in the
field to make manure, is worth from S12
to S14 at the crib The stalks left in the
field generally make manure by flying
to pieces and scattering all over your
neighbours land.
1t will take a good acre of hay with
the acre of corn TO winter one steer.
The hay is worth S12. The corn and
hay together are worth about S25 and
have required about two acres of your
good land to produce them
Suppose you cut aud shock your corn
If you cut it the land can be fall plowed
The men can start cutting across and
the pow can start behind. Tue work
is done in early fall when the days are
long, bright and cool. A good aver
age hand will cut and shock an
acre and half a day. q have
men who have averaged two
acres a day. but any good fair hand
will average an acre and half a day,
at 81 day, by which one operation
you not only secure your corn (every
ear of it two) but you also gather your
hay cropin the shock, getting both done
for one-third less cost than you used
to pay for Just your husking alone.
Now am going to demonstrate to
you that one acre of good shock corn
viii fatten your steer in fine sha pc; SO
that your acre of corn is doing the work
which took the other two acres to per-
form, leaving you half as much more
land for pasture or other uses. The ear
of shock corn being enveloped in the
steers and is more toothsome to them;
they are less liable to get off their feed
and will gain during the six months OF
winter feeding, an average of two
pounds day, besides keeping one shoat
| will now give you few figures:
Last year had yard of thirty year
ling that averaged better than 2 lbs. a
day a part of the time. During the clear
steady weather many made gains up to
3 lbs. day but the fearfully cold and
stormy weather of January made the
gains very small for that period They
averaged when yarded 982 lbs They
were sold IN 40 days averaging 1866 lbs.
equal to gain of 2S5 lbs. to the steer,
or Just 5 lbs. over ? lbs. gain per day
per steer. 1t took IA shocks of corn to
the steer to produce this gain of 2S5 lbs.
There are 20 shocks to the acre the
way we cut them, so that "a or 70 of an
acre, put on 2S5 lbs. in 140 days, and
he sale of the cattle brought me just
1921 per acre for the corn, besides the
keeping for me of the shoats, and a
nice lot of manure left in the the yard,
sufficient to manure six acres heavily
with the manure we make we are able
to broadcast thickly 40 acres er ORD
We find it takes the excrement of about
5 head of cattle to manure one acre.
We find we cannot put on such Ger.
tain nor as good gains in winter as on
grass in the Summer. without yer,
heavy feeding ; but the light gain of
the steer is made up in a great measure
by the carrying of the hogs, and the
grand body of manure left after the
winter feeding is over
We therefore follow both systems OF
summer and winter feeding, for the two
combine nicely, and serve to give u:
better opportunities to reap the benefi
of the best markets at both seasons oil
the year.
hope you will excuse the SAVIOR OF
egotism in my quoting so often from
my own private memoranda, but
wanted you to clearly understand me
and cold facts and figures talk fol
themselves, and are more clearly re
membered. | have tried to present the
statements free from any hobbies and
although some of them may not be
quite as accurate as they should be,
believe none Of them are Unsecured,
founded.