Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-02-25
Grain and Sweet Skim Milk.

Since the rise in the value of land
In the past few years, the farmers
capable of figuring the cost of pro-
ducing farm products. cattle, hogs.
sheep and poultry, are at it. more
than ever before. The uniformly
high price for what grain they are
producing is everywhere attracting
attention. The better class of farm
ers are determined to know by expert
ments of their own or from expert
tons, just what veal, beef, pork, or
mutton can be produced with 100
pounds OF a given grain, writes a far
mer.
1t needs no scales or no figures to
tell you that you cannot afford to pay
ten cents a pound for food for animals
which will not sell for more than
to cents per pound. 1t needs no
argument to convince the reasonable
farmer that he can not afford to feed
calves or pigs butterfat worth 80 to 80
cents per pound. He may do so and
there are many who unwisely feed
their calves the milk fresh from the
COW. There are others who set the
milk. recovering only a portion Of the
butterfat 1t contains and in this way
unprofitably feed many dollars worth
of butterfat during the year. 1t is to
this class of people this article is es-
pecially directed. 1T is to this class of
people who do not sufficiently exert
themselves to obtain the most reliable
information on questions directly re-
lated to their profits, that we write.
There are, for example. about fifty
one experiment stations supported by
the United States tax. OF that number
there are some ten or twelve that have
determined the feeding value of sweet
skim milk There are some differ
ences, of course. in their results de-
pending on the age Of the animals at
the time of feeding and the quantity
of milk given per day.
Take the Wisconsin agricultural
experiment stations report on feeding
grain and skim milk to pigs. Have
you studied it? Twelve sows and
eighty-six pigs consumed in a given
time 2,949 pounds of grain and 1852
pounds of sweet milk. On that feed
they gained 1885 pounds. Figure 1t.
One thousand thirty-six pounds pork
at $500 equals $61.12 Deduct 2,949
pounds grain at $40 per ton, which is
$29.49, and you have s31.63. Divide
$31.63 by $3.50, the milk consumed, and
you have so cents, the value of 100
pounds of sweet skim milk.
Young pigs sucking sows or those
weighing up to twenty pounds, can be
profitably fed all the sweet skim milk
that they will drink. / refer to milk
fed direct from the separator. / do
not refer to any separator skim milk
which has been dumped in sour swill
barrel and fed to the pigs when
weather is favorable. No, sir. You
can't get the money value Of sour or
pasteurized skim milk providing it
produces the sours in the young ami
mails The farmer who recently said,
81 believe that 100 pounds of fresh,
sweet undiseased skim milk is worth
as much as bushel of corn," is
mighty near the truth.
The Boom Hog Business.
1t is an unfortunate fact that upon
several occasions during the past few
years breeders of pure bred hogs have
seen fit to put the price of breeding
stock upon a basis that had absolute
ly no legitimate foundation. This
condition was confined to no particu-
lar breed, and the influence of such
conditions was felt in many places.
Occurrences of this kind were most
prevalent in sections of the country
where the hog business has been
firmly established for a number of
years and we are glad to note that
this section of the country has suf-
fered but little from the boom BUSH
ness, says the st. Paul Farmer. With
in the past three years we have heard
of occasions where well-known breed
ing boars had sold at a stated price
of from $4,000 to $4,000, and more
recently there have been instances
where breeders claim to have paid
$1,000 or more for untried boar pigs.
Sales of brood sows have been record
ed as high as $1,000. To person I'M
acquainted with the hog business, such
prices would indicate that there were
great profits made from the raising of
pure-bred hogs; and many such peo-
pie who have attempted to engage
in the business have found out to their
sorrow that such values never have and
never will exist legitimately.
In the hog breeding business the