The Teton peak. [volume] (St. Anthony, Idaho) 1899-1904, 1903-12-31
Beets for Stock Feed.


duced 50 largely into northern
Colorado for the manufacture of
sugar, promises TO serve other use
full purposes than that of sugar
making. Among these is stock
feeding; and this means more than
the mere utilization Of the by-pro-
ducts OF the sugar factory it means
that both the beet top and root, as
taken from the fields, will be used
as material for fattening beef, NUT
ton and pork. Practical tests Of the
beet and beet top have been made
III the Pourdre valley, and the re-
suits have been flattering.
The most interesting test was
that made by +. H. Bushnell,
farmer living near TT. Collins
Mr. Bushnell has been for quite
number of years feeder of lambs
according to the approved method
extent III Larmie county i. e.; the
feeding of lambs in transit on ra-
tions consisting of alfalfa, hay
and corn, shipped i'll from Kansas
and Nebraska. Some years Mr.,
Bushnell had not found this bust
ness profitable, and last year lambs
and corn being high priced, he
decided to feed sheep, hogs and
cows. And he further decided to
feed these, excepting possibly the
cows neither corn nor alfalfa hay;
on the contrary he decided to try
sugar beets, both he and two or
three near neighbors having raised
small patches of this vegetable.
He bought in Colorado and
Wyoming 1900 head Of old ewes
which he got very cheap, the ami
mails having outlived their useful
ness upon the range. Some of these
he got as cheap as so cents head,
while the balance cost him 2 cents
per pound at the shipping points in
Wyoming. Then he bought forty
head of hogs, and having a num-
Der of mich cows on hand he
started in OH his beet-feeding
experiment.
In order to fully carry out the
experiment he bought his neigh
Dor S beet patches and as soon as
his sheep arrived from the range he
commenced herding them in the
beet fields in order to utilize the
beet tops, which lay scattered over
the ground just as the toppers had
left them. He did not permit the
animals to gorge themselves upon
the tops, but gave them a spell
of about all hour and a half in the
morning and two hours in the
afternoon.
The sheep took to their new diet
with great avidity, and refused any
other fodder so long as the beet
) tops lasted. The sheep were thus
, fed for a whole month, receiving
| no other kind of food whatever.
Then they were put into the lamb
feeding pens and placed upon an
! exclusive ration of sliced beets,
which they appeared to relish just
as we'll as they had the tops. The
sheep were given on an average of
two pounds of beets per head per
day. For a month at the latter
part of the feeding seacson they
were given an additional ration of
half pound per head per day of
corn chop. Both the beets and
corn chop were given in two equal
daily rations.
The sheep showed remarkable
improvement right along. A part
of them were marketed in Denver,
where they brought 81. 80 per hun
dred weight and the balance in
Omaha, where they brought S.. Is
per hundred weight The weight
ranged from 100 to 100 pounds per
head. So it is easily seen that Mr..
Bushnell made big money on lot
of old WORKOUT ewes.
This year he is feeding 1900
head of the same class of sheep
upon similar rations. The only
change he makes in the programme
is to feed for shorter period on
tops and a longer one on beets.