Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1903-10-24
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The stockman's Column
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There are very few feeders, il
any at all. but what VIII readily admit
that feeding has undergone a change
during the last few years. The root of
the matter lies in the gradual rise i'll
value OF that great pie feeding prod
uct-corn. 1t is no longer matter of
securing gains at unknown costs, but
a thing where the expense of making
gains must he known. When corn was
cheap it did not matter materially if
much was wasted. In fact, farmers
and feeders hardly realized that they
We're wasting it; but when the price
went up with bound stocl.men soon
found some surprising results.
The past of the feeder and what he
must look to in the future is very we'll
summed up by Professor w. A. Henry
in an address. when he said:
I'm the heart OF the corn belt, where
feeding operations are conducted on a
much larger scale than in this state,
the steer is usually supplied corn ad
iibitunf Often this grain is thrown TO
him in such quantities that all of it is
not even swallowed, some falling to the
ground, To be tIampled under foot in
the filth, possibly to be picked up by
pigs running in the feed lot. In many
of our western states from twenty to
thirty pounds. in a few cases as much
as thirty-five pounds of corn are fed
TO the steer daily for weeks at a time.
Then, too, there is little variety to
the feed given. Sometimes corn con-
stitute the sole concentrate, and straw
hay-or, more often, cornstalks-con-
Stitute the only roughage. 1t is true
that as a rule we in Wisconsin Go not
place quite so much grain before our
steers as do the feeders farther south
but still the allowance is heavy. and
there is often no thought of attempting
to reduce it in any way. When corn
was cheap-only few dollars a ton
ut did not matter much whether the
steer ate few pounds more or less
especially in seasons when cattle sold
well. The cost of corn, however is
steadily rising and this increase is
not altogether met by am equal rise
in the price of fat cattle. The burning
question, then. is, is ii possible to fat
ten our steers on Il smaller allowance
of grain than has been customary in
the past?"
Professor Henry's query is an i'm
portant one to the feeder. 1t seems
TO be a foregone conclusion that the
farmer can improve the economy of
his feeding: the question is, how is
he goin" at it?
There are two more or less general
ways that may be recommended. One
is to feed less grain, with less waste,
and the other to supplement the corn
ration with some feed that will more
nearly balance the ration and enable
the steer 10 put on a greater amount
OF flesh from the same feed.
While the Investigations at various
stations have been carried on for yari-
Gus purposes. some facts of the cost
of feeding have been developed at a
few of the large and more recent
tests that will be valuable To the feed
er as an indication of what stations
are doing in the way of economic feed
ing.
The largest experiment last year was
at Odebolt, ON the Brookmount farms,
where the Iowa station fed 220 steers.
We have purposely omitted the results
from the continental feeds, owing to
the fact that they are not included in
other experiments which we draw
from. All cattle We're fed corn, and in
addition We're given the following. with
the appended gains and cost in money
value:
Average Cost
daily of pro-
gain per ducing 100
steer, his. lbs. gain
Wheat straw lot. slo.71
Oil meal and wheat straw2.51 Hop
Gluten feed and wheat
straw .............,2.s 9.65
Germ oil meal and wheat
Dried blood and wheat
straw ..................2 1I0S