Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-02-28
STOP FEED WASTE IN WINTER.
Something More Than Mere Shoveling
of Corn Necessary to Pro-
duce Good Beef.
(Clinton M. Shultz.)

(CilntOn M. Shultz.
| A great many Woodworking farmers
have yet to learn that there is some-
thing more in the economy of winter
feeding than the shoveling of corn
into the steers without thought or
reason. OF course the corn must be
shoveled in, but other things must go
with 1t, and they must be fed in the
right quantities and in such proper
lions as to produce flesh and fat with
out waste.
| A healthy steer is good deal like
corn shelter. If the machine Is fed
! right up to it's capacity and no more,
and with regularity, it will take. all
the grain off the cob clearly and turn
out f1rst-class job. But II 1t is
crowded beyond its capacity, If the
corn is jammed in and the power is
intermittent, some of the ears will slip
through with bits of grain stick
ing to them and much of it will
be broken and wasted.
| If steer is fed on corn alone, his
appetite becomes abnormal, and he
either bolts more than he can properly
digest or refuses to eat as much as he
should, and the fat does not stick to
his ribs. If he Is given no roughage at
all or not enough, his digestive APP
paratus does not do its full duty and
: the results are unsatisfactory.
| If he is fed by Sophisticated today
' and starved tomorrow, If he is COM
PEELED to drink ice water or stand in
| the open or under a one-sided shed
with his runp to the storm, the results
will be disappointing to the man who
does not think much about these
| things.
| 1t is surprising to see farmers work
like nailers all the season through to
produce a big crop of corn and then
deliberately throw away a large per-
centage of it through carelessness and
ignorance in feeding. They sweat and
toll in the making of a crop, but are
as prodigal as drunken sailors when
feeding 1t.
If the feed is dumped on the ground
in the snow or midland millions of
bushels of corn are fed that way every
winter-the steer gets only portion of
1t and waste is certain.
1t takes brains, as we'll as manual
labor to feed cattle probably, and
the men who combine these elements
generally succeed. In the corn belt,
the course of feeding generally follow
ed is to throw into the young steers
all the shock corn they can eat at
first, then put them on ear corn with
any old kind of roughage from
swamp grass to alfalfa, or none at all,
and finish off with some oil meal.
This is easy, but some of our govern
ment experimenters tell us it makes
beef cost more than many other ways
of feeding. If cattle feeders would
write to the director of their state
Experiment. station, giving him in detail
their plans, describing the kind of cat
tie, the number, condition of the feed
lots and the feed to be used. they will
receive information as to the handling
of their cattle which is just as good as
cash in the bank
The main reason why so many men
lfail in their various undertakings In life
is because they do not study their bust
ness, They work along Just as theil
fathers. or somebody before them
have done, or adopt the easiest way
without knowing exactly why they are
doing so, And this Is true of farmers
more than any other class of men.
If the grain and hay and roots and
other feed that is absolutely thrown
away every year in the corn belt state!
from improper feeding could be utiliz.
ed to Its very best advantage, thou,
sands of farmers who are now feeding
at an actual loss or getting nothing
whatever for their labor, would bs
prosperous to degree,