The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1908-06-03

| The steers selected for my past win
ter's feeding were all red Durhams
three years old this spring. They
were what are called "skim milk
cattle. That is, they are the calves
from Durham dairy cows, weaned
when a few days old and, as calves, fed
separator milk enriched with oil meal,
| old process linseed meal. They were
| Wintered as yearliugs and two year
olds on timothy and clover hay with a
light grain ration and for two summers,
they were pastured on our blue grass
and clover pastures. They were never
stuffed or crowded to make heavy
growth. Last fall the Goth of October, [
began feeding shock corn while they
were still in pasture, gradually increas-
ing the amount of corn and stalks fed,
but taking care that no time should
they have more of the grain ration
than they would eat up clean and still
look for more. This was. continued
until November Is, at which time the
25 head were eating about the equiv
alent of II bushel baskets of ear corn
per day. then began feeding soft
ear corn, husked, and the feed was
gradually increased until they were
getting Is to Is bushels of soft ear corn
per day. The first of December they
were taken from the pasture and put
in dry feed yard.
| then began using crushed snapped
ear corn, corn with the husk on crush
ed and mixed by the use of an Iowa
crusher. This machine chops and crush
es the earcorn, with the husks on, mixing
the chopped husks, cob and corn thar
oughly, and does the work at the rate
of about $50 bushels per hour, requir-
ing about four horse power to run it,
It is machine which every feeder who
feeds corn 10 fatten steers should
know about. It so fits the feed that
the cattle must eat slowly, thoroughly
masticating and mixing it with the
saliva before they can swallow it and
thus there is little waste. Besides this
the husks and cobs furnish almost all
roughness the cattle need.
After [ began using crushed unhusk-
ed ear corn these steers consumed very
little hay. have made this digress-
ion because [ think the new method
and machine have SO much merit that
every feeder should know about them.
To turn to the steers: AT the time [
began feeding the crushed corn [ also
began feeding with the old process oil
meal, linseed, at first giving about one
pound per day per head, ,and gradually
increasing until by January 1, the feed
was about 81 pounds each per day. By
this time the cattle were on full feed,
getting 20 bushel baskets of crushed
corn and 1876 pounds of oil meal per
day.
This feed was continued through
January and February. March l, [ be-
gan using husked corn, crushed, and
gradually reduced the oil meal feed.
The average of oil meal used was four
pounds per head per day, from Decem-
ber 7th until April 1st. Of corn, the
most of which was soft, and not Eer-
chantable, the average feed crushed,
was 80 pounds per head,per day.
All the time the cattle has access to
clover and timothy hay so they could
eat it at will, and the whole time the
grain feed was divided between morn
ing and evening feeds. In the feed
lot there was constant supply of fresh
water kept at temperature of SO to 60
degrees. The yard was kept well bed
ded with straw and a good wind break
and straw shed afforded the steers shell
ter from storms. No dogs or rough, i'll
tempered men were allo wed in the feed
yards. The cattle were treated kindly,
never dubbed or propped with forks.
Instead of that, there was hardly day
Jl1dU 1AOSu VI U4AO OAA4Oh WCLO AAOU Su1~
ried by the feeder. Right here let me
suggest that kindness and gentle treat
ment are two of the most impcr rtant
parts of the feeders art and they cost
nothing.
These steers weighed in the yard
December l, an average of 11OC
pounds per head. Sixteen of them
weighed in Chicago, April l, an aver.
age of 1855 pounds per head and sold
for 1851, just one dollar short of an
average of $102 per head. The Other
nine, the cut outs, were sold to loca
butcher. They weighed in Baraboo
Wis, after drive of 10 miles, an aver
age of 1414 pounds per head and sole
for $5.75 per hundred. The 25 head
could have sold last October for$A8 pc
head here. The butcher at Baraboo re
ports an average of 64 per cent of dress