The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-12-22

pasture OF range uuTluS tue SuuiLAci.
Il this is done, you might just as we'll
be selling 1900 and 1700 pound
horses at four years old instead OF
marketing the 1400 pound kind. In
feeding your work horses, too much
alfalfa is generally fed, for 1t is very
palatable, and the horses learn to
gorge themselves on 1t. About one
and a fourth pounds of hay and
three-fourths to one pound of grain
for every hundred pounds live weight
of your horse will be practically all
that is needed. In some sections al
falfa is not liked as a horse feed, yet
in practically all experiments it has
been proven superior, pound for
pound, to timothy, when fed to work
horses. Oats is the ideal grain for
horses, but bran can be fed to ad-
vantage, and where bran is cheaper
than oats, one-half of the grain ra-
ton can be supplied by this. Feed
most of your hay at night so that
the bulky food will be digested be-
fore the horse goes to work. Give
some hay in the mornings and but
very little at noon.
Feeding lambs is going to be a
profitable business in the west, and
alfalfa hay makes a very good rough
age for them. Along with this,
wheat, oats or barley make very
profitable feeds. In experiments
conducted at the Utah experiment
| station, lambs made the most prof
liable gains when half-rations of
grain were given, that is, only about
half as much grain is fed as the feed
ers of the east would use. With
lambs weighing sixty pounds, about
a third of a pound of grain a day
seem to give very good results. One
advantage in sheep feeding is that
the grains do mot have to be ground
and the animals need but very lit
tie housing.
The hog business is one which the
west is taking up to great extent
and one which is going to yield big
profits to most of the farmers,
Feeding is the biggest proposition
with hogs, as the housing does not
cost very much. Keep the pigs grow
ing by feeding such grains as ground
barley or wheat or shorts. These
fed with skim-milk, alfalfa and some
roots will produce pork at a very low
price and will allow the farmer a
very nice profit on his investment.
Pork can be produced at from 3 to
5 cents a pound, and if the selling
price is as it has been, 6 to 7 cents,
you see that very good returns are
secured. Do not let the young pigs
stop growing, as the stunning for a
little while of the young animals is
going to make the cost of future
gains very much greater.
The advantages to be gained then
for the western farmer from the
feeding of practically all of his crops
upon his own land are many. AS
a rule, advanced prices are secured
over what the market men will give,
and this, too, right at your own
door, for the hauling of grain and
hay to the railroad is a big propo-
sition as compared with the market
ing of livestock. Another thing not
thought of by the western farmer is
that some day his lands are going to
run out to a certain extent if some
kind of husbandry is not practiced.
If. however, nearly everything pro-
duced is fed on the farm, and the
fertility in this way practically all
returned to the soil, the farms can be
just as good when handed down to
the children as they are now. There
is more fertility sold from the farm
many times in hay and grain than
the price of the crop would bring
back. Watch this carefully and see
to it that products are marketed
from your farm in a concentrated
form, leaving the fertility to help
you grow new crops. Another adj
vantage Of the livestock business is
that it equalizes the work to a great
extent on the average farm. For,
in the winter, when the crops do not
worry one, we have the livestock to
take care of, and in the summer
when the work of the crops is rush
ing, the livestock takes but little at
tention. AS a rule, the mar who is
busy is the man who is making mon
ey, and If he can furnish labor all
the year around will be able to reap
a larger profit from the investment.
CHART I.
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