Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-10
FOR THE FARMER.
Keeping Roots-Hints About Horses
/ Shipping Poultry.
Wfntering Cattle.
The Problem How to Winter Low-Priced
Cattle and make Them Profita-
ble-About Fertilizers.

Ihe problem which the intelligent
farmer must solve in these days of low
priced cattle is how to winter them at
| the least cost, and at the same time
keep the young cattle growing and
thrifty. and the cows giving a profit
able flow of milk, says Waldo F. Brown
in the Country Gentleman. I have ex-
perlmented to quite an extent in winter
feeding of cattle, and find that in a
thoroughly warm stable can keep my
COWS up to full flow of milk, or bring
an animal to the spring in good beef
condition, on a much lighter grain
ration than is generally recommended.
If mistake not. Mr.. Stewart usually
recommends a grain ration of fifteen
pounds day, and in some cases con-
slderably more. Last winter fed five
cows, most of them giving milk, and
their regular grain ration was ten
pounds of bran and corn and cob
meal, mixed in proportion of about
four pounds of bran to six of the meal.
never had cows do better, or come
to the spring with smoother coats, and
any one of them would have made
good beef in April.
In connection with this grain ration
1 feed what fodder my cattle will eat
clean at two feeds, and in pleasant
weather they ran at the straw-stack
from two to four hours in the after
noon. I weighed the ration or corn
and fodder to the cattle several times,
and weighed back the butts they re-
jected, in order to find out what the
waste was. and found that ten pounds
net of fodder was arsI could get them
to eat without waste, and that my cattle
did remarkably well on their twenty
r,nnnHS dow ho1f
fodder. also found that the waste
was very nearly one-third when the
fodder was bright and well cured. 1
found that with this ten pound ration
not cow was off her feed all winter,
but if I increased it much I was in
danger of Over-feeding and having nv
cows surfeited. The winter before I
had beets and small potatoes, so as to
give each COW feed of them each day,
but my COWS did no better and indeed
scarcely as well as when on this bran
and corn ration.
At the prices now prevailing. SIS
per ton for bran and so cents per
bushel for corn, this ten-pound ration
will cost, including grinding of the
corn, less than cents a head a day.
am fortunate in getting nv grinding
done at neighbor's, less than fourth
of mile away, for only cents per
bushel of seventy pounds He owns a
thrasher, and as his engine is not in
use in winter, and his mill cost only
about 500, he can afford to grind
cheap. These iron mills, geared to
run at a high rate of speed. are a
marvel of simplicity, and will grind
from twenty-five to fifty bushels per
hour, the lesser amount so fine as to
,ot toi AIffinnlf 70 fol =,
any cob in it, and it will be great
benefit to the farmers of any COM
'munity if the, men owning tiirasher
engines will introduce them. L had
been thoroughly disgusted with cob
meal, from feeding it ground on horse
mills. which only cracked the corn and
left many pieces of cob as large as
grains of corn, and had thought that
I would never feed cob meal again,
but after using the finely ground meal
made by these modern mills / am a
thorough convert to cob meal, and
shall always feed it in winter when it
can be had.
In our mills, which grind with buhr-
stones, a still cheaper iron mill is now
introduced costing, / think, $50,
which shells the corn, and then it is
regfound together on the buhrs. To
feed a cow or steer 10 pounds day of
this mixed bran and corn and cob
meal, for six months OS0 days,) will
require ID 1-2 bushels of corn and 720
pounds of bran, and / will guarantee
that if Il IS is fed to a 1,000-pound
animal in a thoroughly warm stable,
and it has in addition what it will eat
without waste of corn fodder or clover
hay, that you will find you have good
hQQf Qt tho nnQnInp of The
animal fed on this ration, however,
must not be turned out of doors to
shiver all day in cold rains. or a zero
temperature, neither must it be made
to drink ice-water, nor must the stable
in which it is kept be so wellventilated
that it feels every breeze that blows
have not yet adopted the plan of
warming the water for my stock in
| winter, but 1 feel sure it would pay
where dozen head or more are kept
1 do however, pump fresh water for
them which has temperature several
degrees above the freezing point, and
/ have thoroughly warm stable. l
have no doubt that stable double
boarded with building paper between
| will save one-third of the food, and
| where ten or more cattle are kept L
believe this saving in one winter
would pay all the cost OF the double
boarding. Cattle feeders on the prairies
who feed out of doors in all weather,
tell me that 3-year old steers will eat
an average of half bushel of corn
| per day through the winter and during
cold storms and will often lose in
weight. for days at time at that
/ wish some of your enterprising
readers who are feeding cattle in warm
stables this winter would try this ten
pound ration for a few months, and
report the result next spring. 1t will
not be necessary to weigh the food each
day, but you can provide measure
which viii hold five pounds, and give
it full to each animal night and morn
! ing. I have often wintered a full
grown horse on corn-fodder and a
much lighter grain ration than this,
and brought it through to spring fat
and glossy.
The weather has been excessively
wet for six weeks past with US, SO that
| none of our corn will do to grind, and
/ have been feeding soft-ear corn, but
as soon as corn is dry enough I shall
have lot ground and lay in bran,
and put my cattle on this ration again,
and will report in the spring how they
| do. If they come through in good