Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-05-03

For the past year farmers in almost
every western state and as far east as
Ohio have been feeding wheat in a
small way at first and then in increas-
ing quantities to all kinds Of live
stock, and the result has been a grow
ing conviction in the minds of a great
many that at the present or even
higher prices, live stock furnishes a
better market for the wheat than do
the elevators at the country sta tiOns or
the mills at the nearest towns, to say
nothing of the great markets. Then,
too, the conviction is growing in the
minds Of many farmers in the west
and a few in the east that it will pay
to grow wheat for stock food. A
great many farmers now take but little
interest in the daily market quotations
for wheat They realize that their
pigs, calves. lambs and even their old
sheep will give them better prices than
the consuming world offers, and while
they are not clear as to whether it
will pay to grow wheat for a stock
food they are perfectly clear that it
will pay to feed it at present prices
better than to sell it. The Iowa Home
stead says:
Should this conviction become gen
eral, as we believe it will in time, it
will have the effect in a few years of
taking the entire surplus Of America
from the MARKET of the world except
at a price from 10 to 20 cents per
bushel higher than it is at present.
When a man can say with full conf
dence, "A half dozen brood sows, well
bred and well cared for, will furnish
me a better market for my wheat than
the miller or the local buyer" he is
likely to feel very careless about the
wheat market and very Independent
Of the grain buyer at the railroad
station.
In illustration are cited extracts from
o paper read at a swine breeders in
stitute at Dayton, O.. on the profits of
feeding wheat to hogs ut present
prices, in which an Ohio breeder told,
among other things, that In 1882 hl
tested the feeding Of whole wheat and
corn to hogs and asceNained that the
wheat fed to pork, which was sold at
: cents per pounds live weight, realized
him 81 cents for the wheat and %
cents for the corn. At no time since
would that wheat have brought him
more than G3 cents nor the corn more
than GO cents As to methods of feed
inc, he regarded wheat steamed and
then cooled better than fed dry. and
especially adapted for brood sows that
were sucking and for pigs after they
were wcancd At the same time he
regards wheamcal fed dry i'm wide
bottom trOughs more profitable than
when fed wet without Steaming. An
other Ohio breeder states that he has
fed wheat for the last four years in an
experimental way: that one expert
ment Melted him 81 cents per bushel
and another rs cents, hogs being worth
$3.50 and S435 respectively. AS a
horse food he regards , cents worth of
wheat equal to 10 cents worth of corn.
1t is scarcely necessary, however,
says the journal quoted, to state that
the profit Of feeding wheat depends
largely upon the class of stock to
which it is fed and on the ration Of
which it makes a prominent part, 1t
should not he fed to hogs during the
finishing process except in very small
quantities as a change Of diet Tt can
be fed most proftably to young and
growing stock, especially pigs and
lambs, and as a part of the ration
of sheep when finished for the mar
ket It may form a part Of the ration
of hogs fed for lean, or, in other
words. bacon hogs We have called at
tention to the fact heretofore that
wheat fed hogs sold in the market
by the carload during this winter have
commanded a premium over corn fed
hogs fin the same market, and that If
otherwise Of good quality they have
almost invariably topped the market