Semi-weekly herald., 1915-02-11
Farmers Congress
Opens at Court House

The Farmers congress, as sched-
uled, opened this morning at the
court house at 10;30 The judicial
portion of the court room was fitting
ly decorated by the finest dry farm
ing" exhibit of grains and grasses,
the one that won the first prize
against all competition in this coun-
try and in Canada, first at Boise City
and later at Calgary, Canada. Some
thing to be proud of and few of you
know Of, it was grown on the Smith
ranch, oh reservoir mesa.
The attendance was not nearly what
it should have been by our farmers,
| stock growers, business men or those
who in this section, whose business
success depends upon the successful
operation of their chosen avocation;
and it nearly all comes from the soil.
The chief topic discussed was that
Of the hog raising industry. Prof
| Geo. Morton, head of the animal
husbandry department of the Colo
rado Agricultural college and state
dairy commissioner, was the princi-
pal speaker. Other authorities were
Prof. Olin, agricultural commissioner
for the Rio Grande railroad. and Prof.
Geo. F. Snyder, superintendent of the
agricultural school at Ft. Lewis.
Prof. Morton, "A young man of keen
perception and profound knowledge
in his avocation, opened the meeting
and after short talk on dairying and
butter fat and creameries, then open
ed up the subject of sios and their
usage and advantage to the feeder
In answering questions he gave the
following statistical truisms on that
subject:
"a good dairy herd should give co.
900 pounds Of milk per year.
Three years ago there were go silos
in Colorado, now there are 5000.
"Silo is fermented feed, it causes
through its Tactic acid good feed
for dairy cows, but is not good for
horses or hogs.
"The cost of building pit silo
should not exceed 55c per foot.
prefer concrete rather than
stave in dry climate; the slaves
dry out, permit air to enter and that
spoils the silage. Boiler iron has not
been tested, but il used should be
coated with tar.
Its food value compared with ordi-
nary food is, in corn, twice that of
the corn left in the open.
alfalfa makes strong smelling
silage and is hard to keep. Don't
recommend it.
"The starchage feed is the proper
thing to feed.
BARLEY, peas and oats make good
silage.
"Corn should be well ripened before
put in silage.
Don't raise corn above 1000 #.
altitude. Below that it grows fairly
good.
Don't raise Sudan grass here. It's
an annual--gives big crop but is
not good for silage.
"Cattle? Rifle, Colo, is our big
gest shipping market and | believe
you should here have a local "fnish-
ing market (feed stock). At pres
ent it's not prime" stuff.
"The western market takes the
rougher class of steers and COWS and
heifers. The "prime" goes east"
He advised US to build silos for
feeding, using barley or corn and to
feed alfalfa.
Then the subject Of hog raising,
feeding, etc, was introduced and Mr..
Morton further stated:
BARLEY is the best hog feed Colo
rado raises more barley than Kansas,
which has the last record for any
state.
"Corn fed tshipped in) pork don't
hurt us here any way, for market re-
ports show that you cannot make a
packing plant center without pork,
and lots of it. Beef and mutton alone
won't do it. There were 30 per cent
more hogs at Denver market than
ever before"
He spoke strongly for the former
and roasted the hold-up packing
plants.
"Five hundred pounds of barley
makes 100 pounds Of pork.
: "oats Il good for fattsning hogs>