Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1889-03-30

acre 10 edCu uedO Ol CdItlc VI AoAS0S
desire to keep; then see that there Is SUI
fcient land for summer pasture ana
moving, allowing six acres to pasture
each head eight months; and, finally, see
that there is a suitable location for cor
raj and stables, convenient to cultivated
land, pasture and water, and so located
that heavy drifting SHOWS can not accu-
mulate in the yard or around the stables.
find that the three essentials in stock
farming are plenty of feed, pure water
and good shelter. If any one or two OF
these are omitted, loss, instead OK gain,
will result. l pity the man who thinks
he can succeed with stock which he shell
tiers with three-wire fence while he dOles
out a meager ration OF bleached-out
bluestem hay, and drives half mile
or more to drink through hole in
the ice. also pity the cattle. The man
who follows stock farming in this way is
sure to fail, and then you hear him ours
ing the country. He is disgrace to his
calling, as we'll as to society in general.
In spite of such failures, I am prepared
to say, and to prove, that stock farming
is profitable in Trego county. 1 do not
depend on bluestem hay for winter feed
ing. I regard it as the poorest feed I
have, though useful in its way. 1 put
up from fifty to 100 tons per year. I use
it mainly for horses, to which I also feed
grain, and to my stock cattle, to which I
feed literally of sorghum every morning,
and rye straw during the day, giving the
bluestem at night in the manager to
which the animal is sanctioned. During
the day, unless it storms, I give the feed
on the grass, near water, in the pasture,
changing places every day or two. In
this way, there is practically no loss in
feed. My dairy cattle are fed the best I
have in good managers, and all the orts
(refuse) is carried out to where the stock
cattle can steal it. l give preference to
feeds as follows: LIST, sorghum hay; End,
corn fodder; Sd, oats straw; 18th, millet;
5th, sorghum cane; 9th wheat straw; 7th,
rye straw; 9Th, bluestem hay. These can
all be produced in abundance in an ordi-
nary season, while sorghum and rye are
fair crops even in bad years like 1888 and
1883, when others generally failed. I
have carried my stock through the past
winter on these feeds, with one daily ra-
ton of bluestem hay, and they did well.
I have had eleven years experience in
Trego county, and believe rye and sor-
ghum to be the best crops for the general
dependence of the Trego county stock
farmer In rye we generally have excel
lent pasture from October l to April l,
which greatly assists stock, particularly
calves and milk cows. 1t then makes a
rapid growth, and good crop of straw
and grain is harvested. 1 always have it
threshed, and the grain goes to horses,
hogs and poultry. In sorghum we have
an excellent feed, as hay, cane and seed.
If for hay, SOW one bushel per acre, and
NOW and stack, as other hay, when prop
erly matured. Some spoil it by cutting
too young. I want it matured enough SO
that the juice is quite sweet. If for cane,
plant in rows, and cultivate the same as
corn. Top it as soon as the seed is ripe,
and stack the seed to thresh; for, as a
seed crop, it pays well. Then cut the
cane, and throw it into large piles to
cure. Never shock it; it dries out too
much, and becomes woody. After letting
it cure two or three weeks or more, haul
it into the feed corral, and stack it, SO
that it will keep dry, but not so as to al
low wind to circulate through it. In this
way I have succulent, juicy cane, which
will keep till the following May, when
grass starts enough to give cattle green
feed. This sorghum cane, with small
ration of rye for grain, is all the feed I
use for hogs, and they make rapid and
very satisfactory growth. Giving it once
a day to calves and stock cattle keeps
them in fine shape during the time they
have to depend on dry feed. It can be
planted thick or thin in the rows, accor-
ding as you want large or small cane.
The quantity will be about the same per
acre, but thin planting produces the most
seed. 1t makes an excellent sod or Sec
ond-sod crop. These two feeds, rye and
sorghum, are my main crops. The COM
ing winter I will have to feed from 100 to
ITO head of cattle, seven or eight horses,
fifteen to twenty hogs and 100 poultry;
and 1 will give you the acreage of crops
on which I shall depend, and if the past
is guide to the future, it will be sufi-
cient: rs acres of rye; s. acres of sor-
ghum, (for both hay and cane0 II acres
OF corn; Z acres of oats; acres of millet;
2 acres Of wheat; acres of potatoes,
melons, garden, etc. Total, about 1877
acres for feed crops, which is about one
acre for each head of stock, not counting
poultry. Some say that half an acre is
enough, but believe in liberal feeding,
and would rather have some left to carry
over till next year than to run short in