The Jennings daily record., 1902-07-14
The 9mportdnce Of the
- Give Stock 9ndushy
~ PROF. Tllos. snAw.)

The profits that. may be made from
feeding live stock have been emphasized
In . manner at once striking and convinc-
1n0 BY the results from feeding a bunch
Of steers at J. ]. Hills North Oaks farm
the past winter. The figures have been
given from q source at once reliable and
accurate. so that the results. phenom-
email as they may appear. may as
suredly be accepted az correct. Mr.. Nc
Cusick. the manager, went down to the
South st. Paul stock yards in November,
1900. and purchased forty-five steers
eighteen to twenty-four months old. They
were chiefly high-grade shorthorns. al
though in the white faces of some of the
lot were INDICATIONS of Hereford blood.
The point to be noted here is. that the
steers were high grades And that they
were well chosen. With common animals
and carelessly picked up, the results OBJ
tanned would have been impossible. The
steers were driven over to North Oaks. a
distance of eighteen miles. and were de-
livered there at an average cost per head
OF $2O.1S. This cost included commits
sfons. dehorning and delivery at the
farm. They were fed corn fodder the first
winter. This food was grown the same
as the ensilage corn. but was simply fed
IN the cured form. In the summer they
had pasture only. The following winter
they were fattened on corn fodder, which
was fairly well laden with ears. In ad-
d1tlon they were given all the shelled
corn they would eat. and along with 1t
moderate amount of oilcake. In the same
feed lot were seventy-five pigs which
cleaned after the steers On May 5, 1902.
or eighteen months after the steers were
purchased. they were sold for the block
at south st. Paul, the place Of purchase.
Tor $74.1O per head. This was the aver
age amount received per animal. after
commission. yardage and feed at the
VAY0G 6o6ffofa6 he ctn Aol
also been driven all the way from North
Oaks to South St. Paul in the finished
form, which told heavily upon the shrink
age The average obtained. therefore. for
Keeping those steers eighteen months.
was $53.92. But this does not represent
all the return. The profit on the seventy
five pigs that followed the steers was
away beyond the cost of caring for. the
steers. In fact much of 1t ought to be
considered as clear profit. for the fer
tilizer from the steers during the fatten-
ing period at least. ought to be worth
fully as much as. the cost Of caring for
the steers.
Now, here is a line of work which any
farmer may follow who has the requisite
knowledge to select properly and to feed
properly when selected. The farmer may
not be able to make as large profit as
was made in the above instance. as he Is
usually farther from the market. and
there is not always an advance in prices
as there was last winter. but the fact re-
mains, that feeding cattle in our state
will bring good profit to the farmers who
know how to do the work properly. There.
are no good reasons why Minnesota
should not become the greatest state in
all the Union for -fattening stock. ..
But note what was said abo*A. the
steers were well-bred and were carefully
chosen, With a common or inferior class
of steers such returns cdir}d never have
been obtained, mo matter. .AeW.slsillfal the