The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-01-27
FETTEtllNG The STOCK.
How ItIncressos the Income of Louisiana
Farmers.

How IT tIocressos the Income of Louisiana
Farmers.
The following address was delivered
by Prof. D. n. Barron, before the
Louisiana State Agricultural society
at LAFAYETTE, La Jan %, 1895:
Mr.. President, Ladies aud Gentle
men-The subject of The Fattening
Of Stock as an Adjunct to the Income
OF Louisiana Farmers is one in which
l take great interest 1t has grown to
be quite the custom Tor oil mills and
wealthy individuals to purchase each
fall number of cattle anl fatten them
for the market But this is only done
by wealthy parties, aad the idea seems
someEhat to prevail that it is only
profitable when done on large scale,
Ny observations are. that not only is
this supposition erroneous, but, on the
contrary, the oil mill or individual
who fattens on a large scale is able 10
reap a much smaller profit than he
who feeds a few head on his farm
The reason for this fact, l trust, will
be apparent before [have finished this
paper. Last August it was my privi
lege to read paper before the North
Louisiana Agricultural association. at
It's annual campmeetiug fair, cn The
Possibilities Of louisiana as q Stock
Raiser" and although fairly familiar
with her resources, l was sstonished at
the overwhelming evidence Of the ca
pabilities of our beloved State to pro-
duce food for its stock. If we can
only convince ourselves Of the fact
that there is not square foot OF soil
in this State that is not able to contri-
butte largely to the feeding of stock,
the day will not be far distant when
the immense stock-raising Of the west
will be things of the past and Louisi-
ana, instead OF Texas-New Orleans
instead of Chicago-will be the great
est raiders and packers of meat in the
world. But my mission here today is
not to convince you that our land is
adapted to the raising OF stock, but to
show how the fattening Of cattle can
te made to contribute to the farmers
income.
Looking around at our brethren in
other sections we find that the custom
offattening few head of cattle eacn
fall is no new thing, either to our
cousins of the west and New England,
or the agricultaristts OF Europe. The
English farmer strives to raise all the
rough feed he can, In the fall he
buys lot OF American cattle, buys
our oil cake and, taking all home, set
ties down to plt flesh on American
cattle with American cake and En-
glish roughness. When his sale is
made, after footing accounts, he fre
quently finds that the additional flesh
has only paid him the cost Of his cat
tie and their feed, yet he is well salts
fed, for he considers that he has made
ample profit in the increased size and
value of his manure heap.
l know no better way OF illustrating
the profits to be derived from fatten
ing cattle than to call your attention
to the results obtained in the State ex-
periment'station at Baton Rouge dur
ing the last two years. In order to
test this very question the station has
for the last two years fed small herds
of cattle on a ration of cotton seed
meal, cotton seed hulls and centrifu
gal molasses. TIE animals selected
for the test were chosen for their un-
fitness for fattening. They were scrubs
whose day Of usefulness as work oxen
had long since departed, it being ar.
gued that if anything could be done
with this class of animals, then there
was no doubt OF a profit to the man
who would select his animals. With
out going into details, here is the f.
nancial statement
FOR 1894.
To purchase of six animals
asp pounds) at II
cents. .e..SSl rs
To II, ,621. pounds food,
at 43 cents per cWt..... 53 %
Total cost OF animals at
time of sale. %
By sale of six animals
(5,5S5 pounds) at 4 cts. Sl67 IS
Profits. 81 III
Or 24 per cent. on the money invest.
ed IN six week. These results were
obtained with meal at $40, and hulls
at SIS per ton, and molasses at - cents
a gallon.
The next years results were even
more favorable:
To purchase Of five ami
mails 800 pounds at
II cents. S5o IL
Cost OF feeding same for
six weeks. % 70
Total cost of animals at
sale. ss6 50
By sale of 4,402 pounds
of beef at 3 Is cents... Sl3S Is
Profits. s............. S51 SO
Or so per cent. The excess in this In
stance is due to several causes. First
of these is that he meal used cost only
s14.0O a ton, and the animals sold for
Is of cent higher. The second rea