The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-24
FATTEN.NG RANGE STEERS
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS AT
THE MINNESOTA STATE FARM
Animals to Finish-Cheap
Reef, but the Best, Secured in
Short Space of Time - Some
Points on sheep Industry From II
wisconsin View.

The Orange Judd Farmer, in treating of
the recent experiments at the Min eso.a eX-
pertinent station, speaks thus of the fat
tenirg Of range steers
To determine whether there is any profit
In bringing steers from Yves -erh ranges and
fattenng them in Minnesota, the expert
ment station of that state purchased nine
2-year-old steers in Montana for $50 per
head paying in I'D Iit.on $i.04 each for freight
and feed on the way. These cattle were tied
in stalls ard fed l3l days begning Dec. 7,
1856. The grain fed cons sted of TIN ee parts
bran. three parts barley, three parts corn
and one part oilmesl. Later the barley was
omitted and double the amount of corn used.
TIE fodder consisted Of .si,age and
feed during the experiment cost $S4.76. The
steers sold for $5G6 TO- On the la is of the
S32S.59. Add to this the cost o. TO q, and the
total outlay amounts to s413S5 which leaves
q total net profit of $l52.75 CT 1861 per steer.
This is exceptionally cheap beef, but feed
cattle averaging about 100 lbs. when put
under experiment, can be brought to a good
finish, ard in a reasonable time, on a daily
allowance of meal averaging not more than
It's per day, with the adjuncts fed in this
experiment, and at less cost than If larger
quantities of meal were fed. Range steers
put under what may be termed farm condi-
tions can be made to yield a substantial
profit when judicinusly bought fed ard sold
Since cattle that are being fattened IN the
feed lots of the West usually fed much
larger quantities of msal or grain than were
given 10 the steers in this experiment the
conclusion would seem u he legitimate that
much OF the meal or grain so fed is wasted.
The same journal treating of the reviving
sheep Industry, presents a letter written by
George F. Lewis, of Wisconsin, in which he
says:
Agricultural well as commercial prosper
ity depends upon fertile soil. The way to
maintain fertility cheaply is a live question
with many farmers, who have robbed their
land by continual cropping. Many of our
most successful farmers have found sheep a
most profitable animal and a most excellent
help in cheaply enrichng and retaining
light and WORKOUT land. Many instances
could be cited where sheep alone have i'm
proved and brought to a high state of fer
ti!ity farms which were SO badly run out
that they failed to produce a paying crop.
a case in point. A field containing fifteen
acres which did not grow a gooo CROP OF
oats wss seeded to timothy, red and alsike
clover. flock of sheep was givan access
after harvest. The result was thirty large
loads of the finest quality of hay the next
season. A flock of well bred sheep is useful
in many ways. They are great scavengers,
eating up and converting weeds and brush
into cash, and after harvest if allowed to
run grain fields, will pick up that which
would otherwise be lost, much better than
have also found a new use for my ia
yorites. If you have a piece OF land which
Is too rich to produce crop of oats that
Will stand up, pasture them down early in
the season, only turning your sheep on
when land and oats are dry. You will be
surprised at the crop harvested, well
the gain made by sheep and lambs. Sow
clover and rape or turnips on the grain fields,
and when pastures are short and harvest
past the sheep will be eontentedly grazing,
laying fat on their backs, your land, and
filing your pocketbook.
The future for the sheep is particularly
bright We as a nation have only just COM
menced to learn that spring lamb is delicious
and prime mutton healthful While receipts
OF sheep at the leading markets are larger,
prices are good Which shows that people are
consuming more mutton than formerly
Many object 10 sheep, because they require
better fences than cattle, but l wish to re-
mind that class that a farm to bring the
most profit must be fenced to turn sheep and
hogs as well other stock and that good
sheep fence is also good cattle and horse
fence
While at times sheep have not been as
profitable as other stock, get on an average
1 think they will compare very favorably
with any farm animal in cash returns, while
TIE labor in caring for them is less than for
either cattle or hogs. Stick to your sheep,
fOc they Will enrich your farm and bring you
prosperity.