The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-08-15
FEEDING CORN FODDER

Profit is a stimulus which causes
men to engage in some one or more
Of the many phases of business. 1t
may be commerce., the industries,
banking. farming or some other activ-
ity. yet when all is said, the profit
from that particular line of work is
usually the attractive feature. Com.
petition has become so strong that
profit in many undertakings is made
only by practicing the strictest prin-
ciplcs Of economy and exercising un-
usual care in looking after the small
things and what might be termed by
products. For instance, one Of the
sources of the bankers income is the
small increase in the rate of interest
on money loaned over what it costs
him. The same is true of the farmer.
The increase in the value Of land has
necessitated putting farming on more
of a business basis in order to realize
a profit on ;he Investment.
Much has been said and written re-
gardinI saving and utilizing the waste
products of the farm, and = is en-
c%ouraging 10 note that moro farmers
are making better use Of all the pro
ducts of their farms than ever before.
one Of the most serious wastes has
been the neglect to save and utilize
the entire corn crop. The principal
market demand has been for the
grain. This, combined with an album
dance of hay, has not been conductive
to the use of corn fodder as a rough
forage Conditions have changed the
past few years; among other Things,
hay has advanced in price to such an
extent that it is only good business
practice for a farmer to supply mis-
rough forage in the form of corn fod-
der and put his hay on the market.
Every grower of an acre OF corn
should know the feeding value of the
entire crop. 1t is quite generally
known what returns can be expected
from grain, but farmers should know
the feeding value of the corn stover
stalks without the ears. Reports
from the Nebraska Experiment Sta
ton on experiments made comparing
combinations of shelled corn, snapped
corn, alfalfa and corn slower show
that when slower was used as half Of
the roughaee it reduced the cost Of
gains on two-year-old steers from 40
to IS cents per hundred. The stover
was found to be actually worth $3.50
per ton as compared with alfalfa fed
alone at $500 per ton. The farm value
of alfalfa and other hay crops reached
a mark of more than twice this
amount the past year, thus, increasing
the value of corn slower from $500 to
$1,000 per ton.
With these figures before us, it is
plain to,see that the corn belt farmer
10 HtSItNliHS oue VI ulo luipOl Idiil
sources Of income by letting his corr
stalks in the field. Considering
the small yield of only ore ton of
stover TO the acre, the returns of the
American farmer would have been in
creased millions Of dollars last year
if this what night be called by-pro-
duct had been saved. Coming back to
the individual farmer, he would have
realized his proportion of this profit.
During this summer is the time to
plan on cutting the corn for fodder
this fall and utilizing to the best ad.
vantage the entire corn crop. We find
that the Nebraska Bulletin No. 100
says: by feeding corn fodder, we
utilize the stalk and yet are put to no
extra labor husking it. In fact, corn
can be cut with a harvester and put in
the shock cheaper than it a be
and cribbed, inasmuch as three
with a team and harvester can
cut and shock seven acres per day.
Records from the farm department