Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-02-02
Sugar Bects for stock.

Referring to the question of the feed
ing of live stock on sugar beets, the Den
yer Times says: A practical solution
of this important problem would be OF
vast benefit to stock growing interests
of the west. rendering it possible to
utilize with profit millions of acres now
returning scanty revenue from grazing
alone.
In this connection the utility of the
sugar beet is apparent. Fed in onnec-
ton with alfalfa or hay, it makes a
most excellent fattening food, without
the use of grain of any kind. That this
proposition is literally true has been
amply proved by experiments and prac-
tical feeding in Colorado and other parts
of the west. Mr.. Alfred Storrs, a large
and successful stockgrower of this city,
a year ago marketed two steers which
took the first prize offered by the Den
yer Packing company for the finest and
best beeves to be exhibited at its open
ing. These animals were fattened en-
tirely upon alfalfa and sugar beets, and
the flesh was pronounced of the finest
flavor and texture, surprising even the
best corn-fed beef from Missouri, Kan
sas and Nebraska. Equally gratifying
results have been obtained during the
past season from similar feeding of cat
tie and sheep in Larimcr county and in
southern portions of the state.
The residue of the beet sugar factories
at Norfolk and Grand Island, Neb., and
at Provo, Utah, has for several years
been used in the fattening of cattle and
sheep for slaughter with most gratifying
results. Stock so fed, with only hay or
alfalfa as IN adjunct, find a ready mar
ket in competition with the finest grain
fed meat, while the cost has been found
to be far less. At the Oxnard factory at
Grand Island some IS or 40 farmers
regularly employ the pulp for stock
feeding purposes. 1t is fed directly
from the factory during the manufac-
turing season, and from storage in silos
at other times. Properly handled, it
may be kept for an indefinite length of
time in this manner.
The toppings from sugar bects have
also proved an excellent substitute for
grain in preparing both cattle and sheep
for market, thus utilizing the entire beet
product. Experiments in Utah also
demonstrate its value to be equally great
in fattening hogs. 1t is said to afford
complete protection from cholera among
these animals.
1t would therefore appear that the
sugar beet industry is destined to be-
come an important adjunct to stock
raising in the west, and that it will ma
terially aid if not finally determine the
solution of the stock-feeding problem in
the arid regions. Both the sugar beet
and alfalfa may be successfully if not
p%rolitably raised upon any of the west
ern arid lands where irrigation may be
had. Heretofore it has been necessary
to send stock from these regions to the
great corn-belts of Kansas and Nebras-
ka for fattening. Such a method en-
tails great loss, not only in transporta-
ton but in the bad effects of travel and
climatic changes. which seriously retard
the growth and delay the fattening
process by weeks and even months.
When the western stockman may
Craze and feed his stock upon the same
ground, the profits of his business will
have increased an hundred fold, while
the latitude of his operations will have
been widened practically beyond limit.
Sugar beets and alfalfa form a feed
ing and fattening combination which
promises to accomplish these far-reach-
ing and important results.