Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1915-05-06
ANOTHER THISTLE
TESTIMONIAL


Estancia Monday on business anc
to visit his friend, A. r, Cecil.
Mr.. Winkel is one Of the mer
who started wrong in this coun.
try, but soon saw his mistake
and got right.
He is not in part of the coun-
ty where irrigation can be prac-
ticed except on small scale, and
he saw that the live stock bus
mess was the thing.
When he came to the country
he brought q steam plow and
started farming on > large scale
(but soon dropped it and went in
to the cattle business. As a re-
suit he now has a down-hill pull
and everything is coming his
way.
He raises q good garden and
always has vegetables in great
variety and abundance for his
own use. Also he keeps a hun
dred or so chickens and raises
each year about a dozen fine
hogs. Thus he produces almost
everything needed f0r his table.
and sells enough eggs and cream
to pay for all his necessities that
he does not produce. He has
heretofore MIXED q considerable
number Of COWS and sold cream,
but from this time forward will
milk only sufficient number Of
cows TO produce what he wants
for his table and skinned milk
and cheese for his pigs and
chickens. He has so many cat
tie now-sayeral hundred head
that he cannot give the time to
milking,
He has made q splendid success
with his cattle. He raises high
grades, using none but registered
bulls, and shelters and feeds his
cattle during stormy weather.
AS a result he has practically no
loss, and gets 96 per cent Of
strong, vigorous calves from his
cows.
While he raises lots CT other
feed, he is an enthusiastic ad-
vocate Of the heretofore despisad
Russian tbistles. having tried
them out thoroughly for the past
three years.
Three years ago he found
some of his forage crops were
not going to produce much, SO he
just let the thistIes grow, and
cut and put up the thistles along
with such other forage as was on
the principally cane.
The next year he devoted con
siderable area to thistes alone,
and was confirmed in his con-
viction that the thistle is one Of
the most valuable assets Of the
country. Last year he put up
one hundred tons of thistles, and
this made stormy weather feed
and ample feed at that-for
three hundred head of cattle.
They came through sleek and
fat. This year he will devote d
still larger acreage to thistjes
His method is to double disc
the ground and then smooth it
with a barrow. The tbistlas
then do not come 50 thickIy but
chat they grow rank and thrifty,
and he cuts them before they
get tough,
When he put up the thistles
and cane mixed, he found that
the stock cleaned up the thistles
completely, while some Of the
cane was rejected.
He does not regard the thistles
as a first class forage for horses,
but they are fair for that pur-
pose. But for cattle he cannot
praise them too highly.
Mr.. Winkal has had fine sue
cess with other forage crops ex-
cept sweet clover and feterita.
He sowed SIS worth of sweet
clover seed, but did not get a
good stand. Where the plants
grew up scattering and went to
seed, the following year there
was a good stand about such
plants, seeming to indicate that
fall seeding might be preferable.
He is going to try feterita again,
considering il Z more valuable
grain than maize, though he has
| had good success with maize. He
says kafir cannot be matured
here.
| Mr. Winknl having hann hirh-