Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-05-21


West is the magnitude of the feeding
feature of farmers business seen tC
better advantage than on the 400 acre
farm of Addison T. Schell, near Polo
Ogle County, Ill.
The combination of stock that this
man feeds, the fact that he carries it or
during every month of the year, pro.
duces in large measure the grain that he
feeds, and the thorough system of the
use of manure that the barns accumu.
late furnish the meat of the story.
Mr.. Schell feeds cattle, horses and
hogs. OF the latter he never has less
than 700 head in his pens and barns.
No less than 1900 head of hogs run
loose with the cattle, and in another en-
closure there are always from $50 to 175
horses. Mr.. Schell comes from Penn
sylvaufa stock. His father emigrated to
Illinois many years ago and laid the
foundation for the business that the son
has followed for fourteen years.
The cattle mostly are bought at Kan
sas City and Omaha, and come from the
far western ranges. The stockers are
allowed to feed at certain cribs and the
fattening cattle at others. Both feed
from corn on the ear, some from self
feeders, but most of them from portable
cribs. Some of these cribs have no
other top than wide platform. 1t is a
kind of platform truck with low, broad
gauge iron wheels. The sides and ends
of the box are about the size of 2x4
set on edge. This box is filled with
corn on the ear, and the cattle gather
around and devour it. Two men, each
with two teams, one hitched on behind,
are kept busy hauling corn for the cribs
that are left standing in several in
closures. Some of the corn is hauled
from Schel's own fields, but vast
quantity is hauled from the fields of
farmers. He produces on
his own farm all the way from $4,000 to
40, 900 bushels of corn, and he buys each
season all the way from $4,000 to 10000
bushels, all of which is fed on his place.
Mr.. Schell schucks no corn on the stalk.
He cuts it close to the ground and a
great portion of the fodder is fed to the
cattle. Most of it is fed under cover.
In big, red painted barns long feed
ing boxes run from one end of the
shed to the other. Each box is about
five feet wide, and the sides about one
foot high. The box stands little be-
low the level of the head of the animals.
They feed from both sides and eat the
fodder greedily.
Wherever cattle are fed on the place
the hogs run freely. They are bought
up wherever they may be had and are
brought to the farm. They run after
the feeders and consume the grains that
fall with the droppings, and they also
get the waste that is pushed from the
feeding cribs by the cattle.
The horses are bought at various
places in Illinois and adjoining states
and are kept on the place in herds of
from 150 to 175 head each. They are all
of good stock and capable of being put
in prime condition. Many of them are
kept in box stalls in the stables and are
with the most approved rations
for putting a horse in fat, sleek con-
dition. Some of the animals have cost
as high as $3.50 a pair. A large percent
age have cost over $500 head.
Practically all of these horses are of
the heavy draft type, and all OF them
are shipped to Newark, n. j., where one
man is stationed all of the time to dis
pose of them. In one shipment of these
horses there were eighteen head, none
of which weighed less than l $50 pounds,
some of them over 1000 pounds. There
have been carloads of which none cost
less than $3.50 head. None of them is
of at auction sales, but each
animal is sold on guarantee to be
sound and of highest utility.
One of the most interesting features
of this big feeding farm is the disposal
of the manure that is produced. 1t
must be understood that cattle and hogs
and horses are coming and going. AS
soon as a carload of fat stock is shipped
sway feeders of the three different
kinds come in to take their places. The
vast quantity of fertilizer may be imagin-
ed. Not an ounce of it is allowed to go
to waste, but it is hauled out on the
Schell land at the time when 1t is the
richest. Two men, each with big
spreader that carries ton OF manure at
a load, are at work every day of the win
ter, spring and fall months. The two
men take out an average of twenty-five
loads of manure a day. In the spring,
when the rush comes, thirty loads are
taken out and spread on the fields.
The land of this farm is held at more
than $3.50 an acre. With the manuring
added to it's natural richness this land
produces all the way from 90 to 100
bushels of corn To the acre. Five or six
kernels are planted in each hill, and it
is planned to produce five good, big ears
to the hill. The stalks are low and
heavy. Nine men constantly are en-
ployed to run this farm. They handle
all of the three kinds of stock and keep
up the farming operations.
The manager says that he has kept
track of the feeding of cattle, and esti-
mates that an animal on the feed that is
fed and in the manner handled will
gain three pounds day. They are fed
on an average ninety days aud then
shipped to market. Comparatively few
animals die. Now and then hog is
killed by a steer lying down on it.
There is a great variety of breeds OF
the cattle, all of the well known breeds
being represented Comparatively few
scrub cattle find their way to the place.
The farm is traversed by one of the
lines of the Burlington road, and there
by is connected with all of the great cat
tie ranges of the far west.-Cor. in Trib-
uue Farmer.