Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-06-14

ure season. The rest Of the year they
spend cleaning up the stalk fields,
straw, corn fodder and other rough
feed Of the farm, together with some
corn silage. They get little or no
grain but convert the coarse feeds
of the farm into beef and valuable
manure.
During the last FIVE years the calf
crop from the breeding herd has
averaged nearly 80 per cent. The
calves are dropped from April to
June on pasture. They are fed no
grain during the summer but run
with their dams on the bluegrass
where they grow messy coated, thick
and "baby fat" They are weaned in
October, after first being taught
what grain is. After weaving they
have a pasture that has been allowed
to grow since their predece ssors were
sold in June, all to themselves. Here
they get corn and cob meal, enough
to keep the calf fat in place and add
to it little each day. At this
stage Mr.. Beath has added each year
to his bunch of "Home Grown" what
calves of quality he could pick up in
the neighborhood. All are fed we'll
and kept coming till cold weather
commences and pasture is gone.
For the first two years corn and
cob meal, clover hay, corn fodder.
and cotton seed meal were depended
upon to continue the process of
making the calves into beef. Money
was made on that basis. But for the
last three years corn silage has been
an important factor in producing
this result About December I, the
silo is opened and from then on till
grass comes again the calves got
about all the silage they will eat. In
deed they eat some even after grass
comes. The daily silage ration is
from twelve to fifteen and some
times even as high as eighteen
pounds of silage a day. With the
silage they eat from five to six
pounds of corn a day as corn and
cob meal, until long in March when
the corn is gradually increased to as
high as eleven pounds a day. Some
cotton seed meal is also fed toward
the close of the feeding period, b..
ginning at half a pound of the meal
per head and gradually increasing to
pound and a half d;.y.
Usually at marketing time, which
comes in June, there are two loads
of calves to ship. They weigh
around 800 pounds at from eleven
to thirteen months of age. During
the past five years they have gone
below the $4,000 mark but once
G911.) They have averaged better
than $4,000 head for the five years.
Every year they have made profit.
Many of the breeding cows are
still young, growing as well as prr.
ducing. The older cows are fatted
and turned off as their usefulness de-
clines or they fail to produce calf.
1t is safe estimate that the aver
age yearly cash income for each COW
in the herd is better than $4,000.
There is nothing startling in all
this. But there is sure profit in 1t.
The cows are cheaply kept. The
pasture land is profitably employed.
The element of Speculation and gam
BILE involved in buying high priced
feeders is eliminated The rough
feed and coarse fodder is all uti-
lied and converted eventually into
marketable beef and valuable ma
ure. Little corn and no roughage is
bought. All the crops raised on the
farm are fed there. Little labor is
expended. There is no overworked
wife and mother caring for a sepa-
ratcr or making butter; no hired