The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, 1911-07-10
A FEW ADVANTAGES
OF STOCK RAISING.
BY CARL CHRISTOPHER, Assistant
In Animal Husbandry, University
Of Arkansas.

haps it Is not too much to say that
it is the only way that the virgin fer
tility of the land can be maintained
without buying commercial fertilizer
On carefully managed stock farm
the soil does. not wear out, but if more
feed than is raised on the farm is
bought and fed, as is often the case,
the land may even grow richer, while
the grain farmer as he sells his crop
from year to year also sells the fer
tility of his farm with it, and in a
comparatively few years, as the plant
food becomes less and less, the crop
becomes poorer and poorer, and the
farm is spoken of as a run down farm
and in few more years, unless some
thing is done to revive the fertility
of the soil, it is an abandoned farm.
Intelligent stock farming never
leads to this result. 1t is a higher
class of farming and requires higher
grade of intelligence than exclusive
grain farming to carry 1t out success
fully.
The stock farmer must in fact be
both a grain farmer and a stock farm
er, since the farm should produce
the feed for the animals kept on it..
The stock farmer is in reality manu-
facturer, his animals being the ma
chine which manufactures meat, milk,
wool, etc, for him, from the crude
materials, which is the feed he gives
them.
To know just what crude materials
to use, in just what amounts and in
what combinations to use them in
order to obtain the choicest products
at least cost, requires a very high
order of intelligence.
Success in stock farming depends
very largely on what use is made OF
the by-products. The most important
Of which is the manure.
Farm manure contains every eleI
ment essential to plant growth, and
is in readily available form Another
essential thing which manure adds
to the soil is humus; this is not di-
rectly plant food in itself, but it
makes the soil friable, mellow and
porous so that the rain can soak IN
and penetrate to the roots of the
plants. 1t aids in holding the moist
ure in the soil and gives up the
moisture slowly to the growing plants.
Every crop grown on the farm has
value as fertilizer, and when the
crop is removed from the farm so
much fertility has been removed also
If the GRIP is fed to live stock and
the manure saved and returned to
the farm a great loss of fertility is
checked. On many up-to-date stock
farms more grain and hay is fed than
Is raised, and the manure is saved
and returned to the farm, such farms
instead of becoming run down are
actually growing richer to the detri-
ment however of the farm run by the
grain farmer who is furnishing the
fertility to increase the value of his
neighbours stock farm.
In selling crops from the farm we
sell also their entire fertility value,
while If we feed them to live stock
we provide a home market that pays
us as much for our hay and grain as
we would receive for it if we hauled
it to the market in the raw state,
and iii addition we retain it's fertility
to enrich the farm for greater pro-
duction. 1t has been demonstrated
by great number of experiments in
live stock feeding that nearly the
whole fertility value of the material
feed Is recovered in the manure OF
fattening and working animals. Fat
tening and working animals excrete 80
to 50 per cent of the fertilizing con-
stituents of their food. Young rapidly
growing animals, however, may not
e&crete over so per cent of the fer
tillMng constituents of their feed
In selling animals, or animal prod
ucts from the farm there is also a
certain amount of fertility removed
The amount, however, Is very much
less than where the raw crops are
sold.
Experiments show that it takes
about $1,000 pounds of hay and grain
to produce 1000 pounds of beef This
hay and grain if sold direct would re-
move fertility, which if bought would
cost at least 500. At the same prices
the value of the fertility removed
when the 1000 pound animal produced
on this feed is sold, would be about
S12.
liz instead of meat butter is sold
from the farm, the fertility removed
is practically nothing. 1t has been
said that the degree of success at
tended by the farmer can very often
be accurately gagged by counting the
number of loads of manure he hauls
and spreads out over his fields. and
in very large measure this is true.
Successful live stock raising neces.
states diversity of crops and FREQUENT
seeding. 1t enables the farmer to
keep up the fertility of his land. 1t
provides a home market for the raw
material at highest prices and en-.
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Clean up the poultry yard
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