La Junta tribune., 1913-02-08
SHEEP FEEDING PAYS WELL.
Much Information That 10 Of orsee
Interest TO the Farmers Of ths
Arkansss Valley.

Sheep feeding In the Arkansas Val.
10y IL NO closely allied to sugar beet
raising and the one follows the 9th.
cr - closely tina, | want to men,
tion some II the .,nefit to the cul.
turc Of beets thal are made possi-
ble from sheep feeding. Here h
Colorado this industry is In some
respects much like the feeding Of
cattle In the corn belt. where the
men who feed on a large scale buy
all their cattle. contract, for all their
care for the stock and Invariably 20
broke. The only question OF when
he goes broke In how hard he plays
the game and how much he has
got to lose. On the other hand the
man who fattens a load OF cattle uses
mainly his own feed. attends to
them himself. feeds them on his own
premises, and invariably makes mon.
ey. His iosa3,~ are the exception and
not the rule. Just 80 with sheep
feeding. The man who buys sheep in
large numbers. buys his feed aud
hires all his h'4p will go broke noon.
or or later. owing to how much he
has got to lose On the other hand
the man with 50 acres of land who
buys 500 sheep. feeds his own feed
except corn. hires no help. gives
them his own personal attention,
Invariably makes money. The rea.
sons why he makes money over the
big feeders are many. In the iirst
place hired help Is not 50 good as
! the owner. Again the big feeder pays
remarkable price for all the hay
he buys but he does not get oil
marketable hay. Another thing. II n
much easier to make a gain oh a
small than a large herd. Lastly. the
big feeder gets no benefit from the
manure left In the pens. while Il
means big profits to the small feed.
crs II properly handled. The. -UAa-
ure is the biggest return In the
sheep feeding business. Then the
man on the 80 acres generally has
some roughagc that has not much
cash value. and without the sheep
would he a waste. such as beet
tops. pulp and generally some hay
tina, is not marketa BILE. Altogether
II lessons his feed very materially.
Then he must deliver his hay some
where. Had he not better deliver
II Ia his own pens and save cost
again.
Now am going to make n
statcmcn, that may sound .xtra,a.
giant. but I can prove H. be-
licye the litter left In the pens Is
worth $40 II beet load II properly
cared for and applied To the land.
Las, November year ago We ap.
piled all over the field three beet
loads of manure To the acre. plow"d
u under and watered H. The result
WAS that Ne got 90 tons $500 beets
to the acre. Our ncighbor hhd IN
a field of beets on the same kind
Of land. Both fields were second
crop alfalfa. His tonnage was scv.
.nto"n tons per acr. without the
manure. Now the five tons Of bc.ts
Mt 5000 ton for three loads Of
manure WAS all profit except the
hauling To the dump. II costs no
NOR. to plant thin. top and cult.
vaic n 90 ton crop than \ II ton
crop. II IN" little feeder plays "y.
cn on his sheep and only has the
manure left he is well paid for his
winters work, In my opinion the
banks should encourage N. little
feeder II he IL good worker and
disconrnv. the bix feeder II any
part II borrowed capital. when the
biz feeder loses II hurts everybody
In IN. country. more or io1.-J. D.
Thompson In Bent County Demo.
N N..Tt.