The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-07-07
DA IR ND 20 JJIlT'RY.
CHAPTERS FOR.
OUR RURAL READERS. !
Hsw Successful Farmers Operate This
Department OF the Farm - Few
s Hints = to the Care Of Live Stock
Z and Poultry. Z i:zas 5s$zSs
Rations for Dairy Cows.

s&8 Prof. y. H. Otis Of the Kansas Ag-
ricultural College, in an address to
the Kansas State Board of Agriculture
said: III 5s IS
During the past two years the Kan
sas experiment station has been test
ing several com binations Of feeds, and
we have found that on pasture or with
soiling crops we can produce a pound
OF butter fat at from s to, 8 cents per
pound. On alfalfa and Kafir-corn meal
We produced butter fat at 11.9 per
pound; with Kaflr-corn meal one
third, bran one-third and ground oats
one-third; with what Kafir-corn slower
the cows would eat, we produced but
ter fat at 1913 cents per pound; with
Kafir-corn meal one-half and soy-bean
meal -one-half, with all the Ka6r-corn
slower the cows desired, we produced
butter fat for 1913 cents per pound.
When we were obliged to buy high
priced concentrates, such as oil-meal,
or cottonseed meal, the cost Of pro-
ducing a pound Of fat increased to
10, 16 and IT, cents per pound. In
figuring the above costs the feeds
grown on the farm were charged at the
price the farmer could realize for them
on the local market. It will be noticed
that where the above rati0ns were pro-
duced exclusively on the farm, butter
fat was not only produced much cheap
er, but the farmer would realize two
profits on his feeds, first on growing
them, and second on feeding them to
his COWS. In the ration of alfalfa and
kaf1r-corn meal we have two drought
resisting plants that are excellent
~y1elders. On good soil alfalfa will
produce from four to six and even
seven tons Of hay per acre. On the
average, alfalfa contains 1915 per cent
digestible protein, but we have found
by digestion experiments at the Kan
sas State Agricultural College that
good alfalfa hay contains Is peg cent
dlgestible protein, or % per cent more
than bran. We have also found, after
eleven years of experimenting, that
kafr corn on upland has averaged us
forty-six bushels per acre per annum,
while corn under the same conditions
averaged thirty-four and one-half
bushels per acre. Our highest yield
of Kair corn in any one year was
ninety-eight bushels per acre, while
the highest yield Of corn was seventy
four bushels per acre. In drier Sec
lions of the country the difference be-
tween the two crops would be still
greater. While bushel Of Kafir corn
is not quite equal to bushel of corn
for feeding purposes, an acre of Kafr
corn is worth more than acre Of corn.
For those unable to grow alfalfa,
red clover. is undoubtedly the next
best roughness, and contains about
two-thirds as much digestible protein
as alfalfa. This can be supplemented
by soy-beans, which contain more di-
gestible protein than oil-meal itself.
During the past season the Kansas
experiment station has grown sixty
acres of these beans, which yielded
fifteen and one-half bushels per acre,
and cost US for planting, cultivating,
harvesting and threshing SIS cents per
bushel. This means that the equiva-
lent of 937 pounds of oil-meal can be
grown per acre at the rate of $18.19
per ton. Oil-meal is now selling in
Manhattan atf$28 per ton. Here is
saving of nearly $40 per ton to the
farmer who raises his own concen-
trated feed. In addition to this soy
beans contain twice as much fat as
oil-meal. In these days of fierce COM
petition we need to have it our con-
slant aim to grow all the feeds we need
right here on the farm. 1t can be
done; it is only a question as to
whether we will arrange our farm and
plan our work to bring about the de-
sired results.