Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-05-21
Value of Corn Fodder.

HOW to increase the Value OIL the
corn crop to the feeder" is a subject
which has been deeply delved into by
the Missouri State Agricultural Col
lege. Dr. II. j. Waters, dean of the
college, has spent much time in study
and experimenting along these lines
and has given out some valuable infor-
nation as the result of his labors.
Dean Waters says that this labors
have convinced him that farmers
should grow less timothy and more
clover, COW pea and alfalfa. His eX-
perimenting has shown, first that the
mixture of feeding rations must be well
balanced in order to be of most value
return from a bushel of corn of lem OF
that balance. He said:
Experiments extending over a per-
iod of five years in the state farm
show the average increase in the value
return from q bushel of corn of be-
tween 8 and 8 cents per bushel as COM
pared with the usual way. The gain
is from 25 to 33 per cent in the general
average of the five years. If bankers or
making that much in addition to their
regular earnings they would think they
had struck great thing"
And this brings in the second point
of his practical experimenting, !. e..
the Importance of more completely and
properly utilizing corn fodder. In five
years experimental work on the state
farm 1t has been demonstrated beyond
doubt that corn fodder, properly mixed
with clover, COW pea or alfalfa, is Of
more worth and has higher feeding
value than timothy hay, When fodder
is fed alone-that 1T, not in combination
with material which will proberly bal
ance it. it has a feeding value Of about
one-half that of timothy hay. The
corn fodder crop of the United States
is about S0,000,0O0 or 90,000,00O millions
of tons each year.
The hay crop amounts to between
60,O00,0G0 and 100000 of tons and has
q value on the farm Of about 100000
600. This will serve to give an idea of
the amount of money wasted when the
crop is thrown away. And in Missouri
the crop is, in an average year, practic-
all thrown away. Careful investiga-
lions show that ordinarily little over
the corn plant is in the fodder and
about two-t thirds in the ear. So the
farmer who uses his fodder to fill
bitches or allows it to go to waste
loses more than one third of his crop.
In Missouri there is produced annually
between 100000 and 100000 tons Of
fodder. Normally the hay crop
amounts to 100000 tons and repre-
sents money value to the farmer of
s2O,Ooo,OOO. Thus the tremendous saw
ing will be appreciated when it is seen
that it can take the place Of great
part of the hay.
81 am convinced" said the dean,
chat Missouri farmers should grow
less timothy and more clover and
COW pea: that they should feed fodder
with clover and COW pease."
The normal corn crop of the United
is estimated to be two billions Of bu-
shells. Something over one and half
billions of this is required for feed.
Corn is the great American stock food.
No other plant compares with it's wide
and general distribution in the ease,
certainty and cheapness with which it
may be prepared, in yield or valuable
food material per acre, and in the close
relation it bears to the development of
the live stock interests of the country.
Every state on the union excepting
Arizona, Idaho and Nevada is reported
as growing corn commercially. Where
corn is grown extensively there the
livestock interests are extensively de-
veloped and prosperous.
A corn center is synonymous with
live stock center, and the geographical
distribution of corn production Is in
a general way an index to the distrihu-
ton of live stock production. Eleven
prominent corn states, producing some
thing more than rs per cent of all corn
of the United States, produce practic-
ally so per cent of the horses, mules,
cattle, hogs, mich cows and sheep of
the country. A country pre-eminently
adapted to corn growing is at once pre-
eminently adapted to the production of
a high class of live stock.