The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-09-11
Shrinkage in Hot and Dry Wealth
er Can Be Materially Re-
duced, Says Expert.
.SILO WILL DO The BUSINESS
Can Be Filled at Cost of Gully 60
Gents Per Ton for Labor
Worth Considering.

Hon. John Morley or Steele county,
one of the best equipped dairy farm
ers in the state has prepared the fol-
lowing article on the dairy question
which should be read by every reader
of the Herald:
''The farmer has lost tremendously
the past two months in shIinkage of
milk caused principally by hot wealth
err and flies. In most localities the
pastures have been good and feed
abundant, but Notwithstanding this,
the COWS have shrunk in their flow of
milk very badly. What is the remedy
for this condition? Can it be ayoideds
Possibly it could, but under ordinary
farm treatment of the dairy herd
no. In talking with young
man a graduate of the Agricultural
College, he made the claim that the
flow of milk could be kept at normal
regardless of weather conditions. OF
course this young man had never done
it, never owned cow in his life and
never expects to as long as he can get
a salary for telling other people how
to conduct their businss. The young
man did not tell us how it could be
done, but no doubt he has theory
which if carried out might prevent
considerable of the loss. If cows
were kept stabbed avs and literally
fed with ensilage or some soiling crop
and ration of grain, allowed the run
ofthe pasture atnight, a large amount
of this loss could be avoided. But
this would cause great amount of
work and expense which the farmer
couly hardly assume at, this
time of the year. The pressure of
work during haying and harvest, the
scarcity and high prices of farm labor
and their aversion to choring makes
this difficult problem: =, <, -. =
Every one who knows the habits
of cattle knows that during the hot
days the cattle will bunch together in
the shade if there is any and stand
there large part of the day to pro-
tect themselves from the annoyance
of the flies. When they are doing
this they are not feeding and if they
do not feed cannot produce milk. II
the cows could be given feed of en-
silage or green fodder corn once or
twice day, morning and evening, it
would be great help and would to q
certain extent prevent this extreme
shrinkage. No doubt the COWS would
still feed in the pasture as much as if
they were not fed and the benefits de-
rived from this extra feed would be
clear gain. We have always advocated
the silo for summer feeding for its
convenience as well as the value OF
the ensilage as milk producing feed.
1t will require much less time in the
busy season to give the cows feed of
silage in the barn than to go into the
field and cut feed of green corn, and
the results will be fully as good with
the ensilage as with the green corn.
Whatever method the farmer pur-
sues he must practice economy of
labor. The labor proposition is one of
the most serious the farmer has to
deal with, and we might say the most
unsatisfactory with few exceptions.
That is the misfortune of American
agriculture that we have no class of
people who are making farm labor
their business. 1t is only make
shift for a short time until something
better turns up for most of them.
1--WE advocate the silo for summer
feeding for this reason: 1t is a more
economical way of doing it, providing
a man has silo of sufficient capacity
to winter a herd of 80 cows. This
would require a silo 16x30, holding
approximately one hundred and twen-
ty tons. In addition to this, if at
filling time he had smaller silo for
summer feeding, he would hardly no
tice the difference by filing the two
|silos. With large size cutter and
crew sufficient to operate it, it-would
require about three days to fill the
two silos, including refilling after the
ensilage has settled.
About one day of this time should