The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-05-26

better feeders than others; always
hungry, apparently greedy, and would
not be showed aside, but would
squeeze in and get their share. 9th
ers We're puny and timid and would
fall in behind the rest when feeding
time came, and these of course could
not and did not take on flesh as they
ought to have done.
I did not have scales to keep tab
on the gain in flesh month by month
as I should have done and will do
hereafter.
started with a. reasonable amount
Of bedding, mainly pine straw. This
gave out Christmas and owing to the
Generalization of labor which always
comes at that season Of the year, I
could not get the necessary bedding
and was compelled to turn the cattle
out OF the barn, which is situated in
one corner Of a four-acre lot. Thus
I lost a great deal Of manure.
Value Of Silo.
Last summer I had built two silos
Is feet in diameter and SO feet high.
One Of these was half filed in Sep
tember with corn which would have
made 40 or so bushels to the acre run
through a machine and cut into half
inch lengths. The other was filed
three-fourths full in October with sor-
ghum, corn after oats, and pea vines
and crabgrass after oats. This last
silage was fed first. I commenced
feeding the steers on October Is with
pea vines and crabgrass cut and haul
ed direct from the field into the barn
without whiting. I never saw animals
eat anything more ravenously. Be-
gan feeding cotton seed hulls and
meal at the start and alternated be-
tween hulls and meal and ensilage
and meal daily until the ensilage gave
out. The cattle were crazy to get the
ensilage and never wasted any Of it.
They would nose over the hulls and
meal and root down in the troughs so
that from the very start there was
a loss Of aulls and meal which were
rooted out of the troughs. This dis
inclination to eat the hulls grew as
the campaign progressed and the su-
periority of silage over cotton seed
hulls grew upon me with overpoWer-
ing force, So I early decided that I
would not buy any more l1ulls. I now
declare as the result Of my own per-
sonal experience in feeding that 7
would not haul cotton seed hulis five
miles if they were given to me. It is
very certain that no man can afford to
buy hulls at anything like the prices
they have sold for this year, and any
one who intends to carry on the busi-
ness of feeding cattle economically
should build a silo. The value of en-
silage as compared with huls can be
estimated by the chemists, but my OBJ
servation and experience, to say moth
ing of 1ny reading, all teach me that
ensilage can be so cheaply made and
is in every way so superior as We
hicle to mix with concentrates like
cotton seed meal that any one who
has stock to feed can not afford to buy
hulls at even 81 per ton.
I advocate the growing of sorghum
for ensilage. On rich land the yield
of sorghum is enormous, I would say
not less than ten tons per acre, and I
have seen what I thought was yield
of 20 tons per acre. I believe that
ensilage made of sorghum is fully as
valuable in fattening properties as
ensilage made of corn with the ears
left on and yielding IS or 20 bushels
to the acre. The seed of the sorghum
seems to take the place Of the grain
Of the corn.
Ny cattle at all times had access to
plentiful supply Of pure water, and
! T ALWAYS kent rock salt in large 1umDs
i in the troughs.
There was a disposition among the
steers to ride a weakling and I de-
ciGed that this was manifestation
of natures way Of having only the
fttest survive. Thus it is important
to have the cattle as near a size as
possible when they go into the barn
After a week or two the puny, timfd
weaklings must be given a fair show