The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1890-02-21
AGRICULTURAL HINTS.



some in'ere~t'ng Trials ~ the wl.con.is
Experiment station.
snort crops over tho Northwest two
years ago drove many % our farmers 10
economizing feed in way never before
Thought Of. and fced-cuttcrs were bongbt
~ thousands. as manufacturers OF those
machines can testify. The abundant
harvest OF the last season and the indif-
ference 81 farmers 70 cattle have caused
many Of the machines 10 lie idle tho
present winter; yet some farmers have
not grown discouraged with the low
price Of cattle. and still have the ambi-
ton TO make their farms carry a. much
stock as possible. and such are still in
terested In any facts that touch upon the
question Of economical feeding.
We have conducted at this station
three experiments with cut versus I'M
CUT fodder for mich cows. and in each
instance the result, measured by the
amount OF fodder required 10 produce :
given amount Of milk and butter, was in
favor Of cutting the fodder. In one ex.
pertinent We used corn-stalks OF the
Pride Of the North type, q small yellow
dent, with rather small-sizcd stalks
The fodder had been grown for tie
grain. and the ears had been husked from
u. The foddcrwas run through machine
which cut II into pieces about an inch
long and shredded the coarser parts. The
result OF this trial was that 72l lbs. 81
cut fodder, fed with grain. produced a.
much milk as 1888 lbs. Of the same fod-
der when uncut, with the same amount
OF grain as in the first case. In the sec
ond trial, with the same sort OF corn
stalks. l,2l7 lbs. OF cut stalks. with a
certain quantity Of grain, produced as
much milk and butter as 1000 lbs. OF
uncut stalks, with the same amount OF
grain as In the first case. In the third
trial Stowell's Evergreen sweet corn.
grown for fodder. but containing many
ears. was used. The stalks OF this corn
were quite soft; 1000 lbs. Of cut fodder
OF this variety lasted two cows twenty
hve days, while the same weight OF un-
cut fodder LASTED twenty-five days. with
the daily yield Of butter about equal in
both cases
From these trials We note that there
was a saving OF thirty-six per cent OF
fodder in the first case, thirty-onc Der
cent. in the second. and nine In the
third The first two experiments may
be considered representative Of such
fodder As is usually grown by the farm
ers OF Wisconsin. and shows that il is
fair 70 assume that something like one
third Of the fodder Is saved BY running
II through the feed cutter, while for
such corn as Stowell's Evergreen. with
very soft stalks. when carefully fed. the
loss when fed whole may be as small as
nine per cent. compared with cutting.
For corn with - coarse. large stalks As
that grown in Illinois and Iowa, sus-
pect that the loss from feeding whole
may reach forty per cent
An interesting question arises In this
connection. viz: whether the saving Is
due simply to the cows eating the
coarse parts, which would otherwise be
wasted, or to less labor in mastica-
ton because Of the fodder being finely
divided By the cutter Our figures
show that In the first trial fourteen per
cent Of the uncut fodder was uneaten.
while there was . saving BY cutting OF 1
thirty-six per cent In the second trial
the uneaten stalks were thirty per
cent. while there was saving Of fodder
BY cutting OF thirty-one per cent. In
The third trial the weight Of the unc aten
stalks represents the saving BY cutting.
suspect that the saving OF labor in
Is after all merely nominal.
md that the gain by cutting feed is
mainly in getting the cattle 70 eat
portions Of fodder which they otherwise
would not Breeders Gazette.