The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-11-28
AGRICULTURAL
Some Advantages Of Mixed Farming.

Some Advantages of Mixed Farming.
One fact that ought to be convincing
argument in favor of mixed farming is the
condition of the farmers where mixed farm
ing is carried, as contrasted with that of
the single crop farmers, but so long as
there are any who adhere to the single crop
system, discussion of the benefits and ad-
vantages of mixed farming is in order.
Prof James Wilson, of the Iowa Agri-
cultural College, says:
The specialist who has not farm training
in all its departments, sees things with
half an eye only. There is an interdepend-
ence of one department upon another, and
a benefit from department. to another
that is only known to those who have sew
eral in operation. Much grows upon a
Western farm that can be more prOfitably
turned into beef or mutton than into milk
or pork The COW and the hog require
more portein to do good work than the
steer or fattening sheep. After cows
and the shote's ration are taken out of
the years crop, the clover, bran, skim
milk, oats, if oats are cheap enough to be
fed, what remains will be more suited to
making meats than milk pork? True,
the hog can be fattened on corn for a
snort period, but not very long one.
The surplus corn that the COW and the
shote can not use to best advantage will
make meat together with hay and corn
fodder. IL may be necessary to buy a little
oil meal or grow little flax some roots
to add to corn and hay to make meats
proiitably, but if milk is made from what
the steer or Wether would fatten on, more
fat will be rut on the than is neces-
sary 10 her. Our cropping system is bet
ter suited to milk and meats than to milk
alone, because of the prevailing carbona-
ceous nature of the plants we grow. Take
farmers crops, his corn and its fodder,
his hay and its pasture. his oats and its
straw, and compound them all together
ana the result is meat ration. Milk can
be made from it, is made from it. and su-
perior butter, but the average yield is low
because our cows get Il meat ration. Prof
King of Wisconsin. breaks away frem the
German standard of 81 and gives to us
an American standard of 50 Iowa farm
crops Will not make d ratio of 1863. Our
staple crops do not compound to make it,
if we feed ali we grow. 1t is entirely prac-
teal to get meat ration
makes meats quite as successfully as any
thing reported we mean during the finish
ing period of say 10 months. We gather
from Prof. Kings reports that he takes the
average of a large number of feeders in
many states for his new ration. and we
are of the opinion that he is quite as safe
a guide to follow as any that have outlined
how to feed the dairy COW for Western
farmers. We would be understood as scan
ming the whole field, considering what
the state of Iowa can do. We know that
thousands of COWS get nothing but the corn
plant; very superior butter is made from
their milk, but we can dc better than that
by adding to our crops little such plants
are rich in protein.
The dairyman will come to this The FAM
flies who desire to earn farms will get
from the field to the COW all that she re-
Quires to make her yield her very best
meanwhile the condition of our cropping
system calls for meat making on the farm
The Advantages of Winter Dairying
A short time ago man said to me, Can
l make more profit out of cows by having
them come in in the fall than in the
spring." My reply is, THAT depends en-
tirely upon what kind of a dairyman you
are. If you have good dairy cows and will
give them good winter care, feed them a
variety of good milk reproducing food and
plenty of it, keep them in comfortable, well
ventilated, clean stables where they can
have wholesome air to breathe and not
compel them to drink ice water. and in
short, make them as comfortable. content
ed and happy as possible, then you con-
But, on the other hand, if you think a COW
needs very little care and that YOU are
doing well enough by her if you turn her
out to pasture the first of May, let her get
her own living till October or later, then
winter her by letting her run to the straw
stack, putting her in the stable nights and
when the weather is stormy, feeding her
only hay and csrnstalks and letting her
drink through a hole in the ice-if that is
the way you believe in doing. then | saw
let your cows calve in the spring
1ou will get some returns from them but
no profits.
1t makes me out of patience with a man
TO hear him talk about 'Winterin2 cows"
To feed just enough to have her live
through the winter. SO that she can pro-
duce cheap milk for short time the next
summer, is the heighth of folly. The WIN
ter feed is wasted and the COW is poorer
in the spring than fall. If cows are fed as
the; should be, with all the best milk-pro-
ducing foods they can digest through the
whole year; the time of year they calve
makes very little difference in the calf.
Cows must be fed year to get a wears
work out of them.
| have been able to get the most profit
out of cows calving in September and De-
tober. AS rule, | have been able to get
more butter out of them during the year
taan from the spring cows. The flow of
mix can be kept up pretty we'll through the
Inter, especially if some succulent food
such as ensiage roots, is fed in addition
to the ordinary dry winter feed Then.
when they are turned out OH fresh grass in
spring, they win make almost as much hut
ter for while-though from much small
er quantity of milk than the fresh cows.
They will be dry in July and August when
prices of dairy products are low.
Cows that calve in spring produce most
when prices are lowest They are bound to
shrink in milk badly in the latter part Of
summer on account Of heat, drought and
flies. No amount of food will prevent that
Then, when winter comes and prices are
good it is impossible to bring back the
flow of milk, no matter how we'll one feeds
Prices of butter are much higher in winter
than in summer the extreme range being
ABOUT 10 cents pound difference between
the lowest and highest. But winter cows
make some butter in summer when nr;ces
are low and spring cows some in winter
when butter is high
L have made the attempt to figure, out
from the records / have kept in the MAST
what advantage in price of butter | re-
celVed from my cows that calved in the
1all over those that calved in the spring.
1T mas not varied much from ) cents q
pound. This, even if they produced no
more than if they had been sprinr cows
out am sure they did, would make s15
to SIT a year per COW in favor of the yyinter
dairy.
Anotner advantage Of winter dairvino is
help can be had much easier ana cheaner
from the records / have kept in the past
there is a rush of farm work in sumner
Correspondent Prairie Farmer.
Chunks of Sound Sense
Among a very large proportion of farm
ers who keep cows, Hoard's Dairyman
says, the difficulty with their methods of
practice is that they do not see the truth.
They have never trained their minds TO
- l. T. 49,