The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-06-19
CATTLE AND THE CORN CROP

The scientists tell US that about 20
| pcr cent of the feeding value of the
! corn crop is in the stalk, or, to be cE
! act. 80 per cent. Whether il is a lit
| lie more or less than this dose not
matter. It is in any event too much
| TO waste, If it can be helped. There
| will be planted in Iowa, Illinois, Kan
sas and Nebraska, between thirty and
| thirty-fvc million acres Of corn th'-
| year, and at least twenty million
/ acres Of this will be grown solely for
great shortage Of hay and grass.
| Here is a little problem in arithme-
| tic for the youngsters: If corn yield
| 30 bushels per acre, and is worth 40
cents a bushcl on the farm, what
! would be the value of 30,0O0,0O0 acre
1 if sold for grain? II the grain part j.
/ so per cent Of the total value, what
/ would be the value Of the rest? De
duct from this last result dollar az
acre for pasture value, and you have
/ approximately the waste Of feeding
/ value that has been going on in the
b -four states each year ever since they
we're states. Are you surprised AZ
/ this?
These four states are among the
finest corn lands in the world; but,
! fine as they are, they cannot perma-
( ncntly endure an actual loss Of tina,
| magnitude. Under our present system
/ Of agriculture, however, this loss ].
/ inevitable. II is therefore high timr
/ that we changed the system. There
/ is no possible way of saving this
waste, amounting, as We figure It, 10
/ between one and two hundred million
! dollars each year, except by gettlrg
/ back to live stock farming, and esp
/ cially to cattle growing.
Great has been the waste of foo.
/ values in the corn crop. The cor.
/ belt farmers who are not dairymg
cannot be greatly blamed for wastiu-
this during the last fifty years. J..
/ fact, so long rs we could get all the
cattle we wanted on the range, it Wa
often better to waste the corn fodd,r
than to save 1t. Corn fodder has uo
actual value unless fed on the farm,
and whether there were cattle or live
stock of other kinds, the waste of la-
Dor involved in cutting and in hush-
ing was greater than the waste OF the
fodder. Besides, until within the last
comparatively few years, we had no
corn harvesters, no corn shelters, mo-
siloS.
A great change has come over our
agriculture in the last fifteen years.
Land both on the praries and on the
plains has trebled in price. We call
no longer depend on the great nation
al stock ranges for feeding steers.
More and more we shall have to grow
them on high priced lands. To do this
we must utilize the stalk Of the corn
as well as the ear, 100 per cent in-
stead of 60 per cent. To utilize this
immense waste, we must get cattle
somewhere. For while sheep and
horses and even hogs can utilize some
fodder, cattle are the only class of
; live stock that can utilize it to any
very great extent and to the best add
vantage. They are built that way.
b If we cannot buy them we mus,
grow them. To do so, we must grow
d less corn and more grass, less gram
, and more roughage. We must change
our methods of feeding cattle; aad
! before we can change our methods
! we must change our ideals. Thirty
70 years ago we grew cattle on CheaI
5 land mainly to market our corn. AhOu
fifteen years ago we began to fceC
& grain to cattle ard hog to make beet
and pork From this on we must grow
grass and roughagc, grow our cattle
on these, and feed enough corn aua
other grains to make our roughagc
fed cattle marketable.
This will involve a revolution il
> farming, II means a rotation of crops
fenced fields. more and better build
- ingS, less acreage IN corn, and the use
% Of the full crop instead Of so per cent
Of it. II means more working capita
G per quarter section. II means the en-
d plOyment Of help by the year, married
hired men living in a separate hous,
}. on the farm. II means enrichment O
p the land instead Of gradual impover
ishment. It means leases Of at leas
! five years in length.
i All this is coming. 1t will not CONT
at once, nor all at once; but II mus
10 come, or else our lands will lose theiI
4 producing value and then socia valu,
d as well. Then when the speculative,
value has gone out of them. as t mus
- sooner, or later. land owners and land
= lords who refuse to adapt Themselves
to the new conditions will get hurt
@ For the permanent value Of our land
$ rests on their productive and socia
value.
s To maintain their productive valu,
S we must stop the waste Of fool valu,
il in the corn stalks of thirty to thirty
five million acres in these f0ul state
u alone. We must save the st'aw, III,
e aftermath of our meadows. and tn,
d gleanings Of our fields We must grew
roughage and sell il to cattle. which
G are about the only customers in tn,
S market for it. We must build silos
e summer silos as well as winter silos
We must have more pasture. grow
n more roughage, plant fewer acres o
X corn, and grow more corn per acre
: This will add permanence to agricul
tural population. increase to some ex
e tent the productive value of land. AM
80 lay the foundation for increased so
= cial value.
Just think this over when YOU ar
/ preparing your corn ground, wheI
e you are planting your corn, when yo
: are cultivating it, and as you watc
= 1t grow till harvest. Then figure on
J. how much feeding value is wa ted.
you don't have live stock enough t
- consume it.-Wallaces Farmer.
IN, N ~ N