The Raymer enterprise., 1916-04-20
WORKING A DRY FARM
Certain Fundamental considera.
tions to Bear in Mind.
Domestic Water Supply Is Absolutely
EssentiaI-Make Provision for Gar
den to Insure Family Living
-Silo Saves Feed.
By ALVIN KEzER. Colorado Agr.cuI.

business. AS a consequence. there
are certain fundamental considerations
which the settler should bear in mind.
A well for domestic water supply Is alb.
solutely essential. II such domestic
water supply cannot be obtained upon
the land or Immediately adjacent to
II, other features would have to be
extremely desirable to make 1t adsis.
able TO locate home. The produc.
ton OF crops is more or less uncer.
tain and the prospective settler should
by all means bring sufficient capital
In money. or in money and materials,
to carry him through at least one year
until production can be started.
For the most part the plains are
treeless. In the building OF a home,
one OF the first things. after the house
and sheds for live stock are provided.
should be the making OF some proyi.
sions for trees. Where land is prop.
erly prepared and properly cultivated,
trees can be grown almost anywhere
on the plains. provided they are given
sufficient space.
The dry farmer should make pro-
vision for a garden somewhere near
his well. II good well is present for
domestic water supply II can be used,
especially II little storage is possible.
to insure good small garden, II the
water Is properly applied at the right
time.
Inc dry farmer should by all means
plan his cropping system so as to grow
iced Tor at least few chickens and
pigs, so that the family living will be
insured. The type of other live stock
which he chooses to grow will depend
a great deal upon his location, as
either dairy or meat animals can be
made profitable. There will be sea.
sons when an abundance OF feed will
be produced. There will be other sea.
sons when the amount OF feed produced
must be very carefully husbanded In
order to permit existence; consequent.
~. sooner or later the dry farmer
should come to the proposition OF ssv.
ing all OF his feed. and In extra good
crop years to store up excess feed
10 Tide him over the lean years which
are bound to follow one season or an.
other.
The wide use OF the silo is bound TO
come as part OF this development,
because II permits all, or practically
all, the feed grown to be stored in
available succulent condition for fu.
ture feeding.
No method OF dry curing Of the CROP
Is 80 ei'ictont that II does not waste
at least as much as 80 per cent In
the dry windy conditions which pre.
yaIl as much as so per cent OF the feed
value may be lost. II put in the silo
at least 20 per cent should be saved
under normal conditions. In other
words. the loss need not be over ten
per cent and often will be less than
hye per cent The silo making DOS
sible this great saving in feed is bound
to have a much greater use upon the
dry farms.
In many places dry farmers are max.
ing use OF open range available to
carry their stock in the summer. Dur.
ing some seasons this open range will
be cue short by extreme drought 80
that the animals lose flesh or fall off
In milk production according to the
Kind OF animals kept Ii the dry farm.
er had a silo at this time he could
open the silo and feed some silage dur.
Ing the period OF short pasture and
Keep up his gains on beef animals
and his milk production on dairy ami
mails.
inc entire system can be summar.
lied then. briefly as follows: Forage
crops are best adapted to the soil and
climatic conditions. In the best man.
agement they should be grown and
placed In the silo to be fed later to
i've stock. Grain farming should be en-.
tirely supplementary to the general
system, OF the grain cash crops
which may be grown. we have winter
wheat iax and Mexican beans. With
winter wheat and fax especially. the
farmer should look upon the PROPOSE.
tion as chance for getting some
thing extra, his living and his main re-
turns to be obtained from live stock
which are fed upon forage crops.