The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-08-09

i AOuSu, udTSA, yes UIu6dA, W OAoO onO COWo.
Cows respond quickly to kindness; they surely
know how to love.
GROW YOUR OWN DAIRY CROPS.
Feeding for milk production is a problem I
have not solved. To buy feed to make milk to
sell is not profitable. This is the dairyman's
plan in our State. I have found more profit in
the. business, where I have food of my own rails
ing. With a big lot of roughness and sweet en-
silage on hand for several months, I can make
money at the dairy. When my barn loft is
empty, silage all alone, and bought feet coming
in every week, / do not make money.
My experience in feeding for milk, is to raise
the feed on the farm. / do not mean that I can
have a balanced ration, but I have learned that
if I have a liberal dairy feed Of well cared corn
sllage and BRIGHT oat straw to feed to good av-
erage COWS, / have made more profit than / did
when 1 bought foods to compose a balanced ra-
ton. The profit in milk production is where the
farm produces the food for the COWS I have
tried about all of the forage nlants I have heard
of, but have found nothing to equal corn. The
crop may be utilized for feed in many ways. I
think the best way is to put into a silo, sufficient
to give each cow one bushel daily, and to cure
sufficient to give each ten pounds or more as dry
feed. For the silo crop I plant on well MANFRED
land in four-feet rows with two to three stalks
to the running foot. The yield is immense.
cheap, and the finest COW food 1 have yet found.
FORAGE AND so111Na CROPS.
For the dry forage, l plant on oat wheat or
rye stubble thus: Run a furrow across the field,
fertilizer drill following, putting out four hun
dred pounds per acre. Drop the seed thick-one
and one-half peck of seed is not too much per
acre-then bed on this furrow three or four
days. After planting get on this bed with disc
or Acme harrow and work down level. The deep
covering sprouts the corn quick, and after level
ing down the beds the field is in fine FIX to work
the crop. and for the crop to grow. That is the
cheapest way that I know of to get just heaps of
dry forage for winter feeding. The stalks are
small, soft and sweet.
Sorghum is a fine summer feed. I raise lots
of it. What is not fed green, is cured for win
ter. I do not like it for silage-corn is better.
Pea hay is grand but too expensive ON a small
farm where many cattle are kept. More weight
on the same land can be had from other crops
than from peas. l do not now give much land
to the pea. If | owned a large poor farm, I
would grow peas.
German millet makes a quick growth; it can
be sandwiched in between other crops, and a lot
of fine hay made for the COW.
Alfalfa will not grow for me-. I wish it would.
Red clover is not at home on my farm, but Grim
son clover seems to find the food in my soil need
full for it's perfect growth. I make hay of the
crop, and the hay makes milk.
Vetch and winter oats are valuable because
after the silage corn is off, / can seed this COM
bination on the corn land, make a great big crop
of forage, and plant to corn again the next
spring.
Wheat, oats and rye are grown for COW feed.
Green wheat is one of the best soiling crops I