Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-09-28
Use OF BY-PRODUCTS
icfnc Farmers Waste as Much az
Would Make Handsome Profit
Every Year.
(By w, M. Kelley.)

ind circumstances under which the
,rops are raised and are to be used.
he amount of each crop raised the
mount of capital employed, the kinds
If stool, kept and many other less i'm
portant things.
Among the crops that are only par
Tally utilized, the straw from the small
grains Is In my opinion the most neg
ected Of all by-products and right at
he outset I want to protest against
burning 1t and allowing the whole
value to be dissipated in thin air to
our own sorrow and the injury Of pos
!erity.
In order to derive the most feeding
value from our straw 1t must be prop
srly secured. AS much care should be
aiken to keep it clean and bright as
we take with our hay. II your grain
Is to be threshed in the barn. plan to
have the separator set SO that the
straw may be blown to another NOW
Ind not have 1t run outside.
If stacked, have a good stack that
will shed water. If hauled to the barn
before threshing 1t may be left until
late in the fall before 1t is threshed
and thus save the straw from the ex-
posnre to the fall rains
All practical farmers admit that If
we make our farms pay we must in
crease the fertility of our land. and to
do this to the best advantage we must
Keep more stock.
Here the question arises, How are
we to do it," If we grow plenty of
grain to feed them we will not have
enough hay to feed while they are
consuming the grain and 1t is a poor
lystem of feeding that does not provide
abundance of rough fodder for live
took.
One remedy is to make such use of
he straw thatait will take the place of
nay and other crops that are used for
'orage. If we take special pains IN
cutting and curing our grain and in
The saving of the straw it will make a
very good substitute for hay, especially
when run through cutting machine
and fed with ground grain.
Many farmers in the West grow
large fields Of grain and keep but
little live stock on account. of the ex-
them. To these men I would advise
keeping a large quantity of straw in
The barn yard or feed lot and allow
fast as possible. This may be hauled
70 the field and used TO profitable adj
vantage on any farm the writer ever
visited. 1t is surprising how, much
manure may be made from stack OIL
straw and how much feed the animals
will get out of it if they are allowed
% pick it over.
Sheep like it remarkably well, and
If spread in their yard or placed in
their feed racks they will work 1t all
over and pick out every head with
grain in it and the other parts that
they like.
1 am not recommending the use of
straw alone for the feeding of stock,
but rather to show its feeding value
when fed with other rough feed or al
:ernated with hay, corn slower or other
,oughage.
The reason many farmers dislike to
iced straw is because they will feed
out everything else first and then
feed straw and expect the same re-
suits as are made when feeding with
other coarse and more expensive fod-
der
For bedding animals straw used
freely will save food and promote
health, thrift and comfort and make
manure which will contain, in addi-
ton 10 the direct value of the straw
itself. which I think is under stimat-
ed by many farmers, all of the drop
pings and liquids of which large
proportion would otherwise go to
waste.
Among other uses may be mentioned
top dressing green lands, mulching
berries, fruit trees and other work in
the garden or fruit orchard
Another great waste comes from the
handling of the corn crop, especially
In the West, where practically no use
is made of the stalks except to allow
the cattle to run over the field during
the winter and eat what they want of
the dry and bleached fodder.
In the eastern dairying sections the
silo has been a salient factor in saw
Ing the corn crop to the most profit
able and economical advantage and
we cultivate the corn crop to raise the
same parts that the farmer Of the
West allows to go to waste on his
farm.
In many sections Of the country the
Idea seems to prevail that corn slower
has very little feeding value, and In
different localities different methods
Of harvesting are followed. But when
properly handled the real feeding val
ne of the stalks Is more than that Of
the grain. and of all ways to secure
The stalks the silo will keep them in
The most palatable form for feed,
and to the dairy farmer who is feed
ing large number of cattle from a
small amount Of land It is almost In
aispensible.
To the man without q silo the best
means Of preserving the slower will
oe TO cut the plant close to the base
when about half of the leaves are
dead and place in a shock with the
tops tied together to shed rain. After
standing a while the ears and husks
and the stalks placed back together to
complete the curing process.
When a husking machine is en-
ployed the slower will be cut and
shredded and run into the barn, but