The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-11-20

quantities over longer peTlOd. III
he was going to feed corn in consid-
cradle quantities over a long period
| he was disposed to buy high-class cat
| tie. If corn was high and the feeder
| felt that he had to use a larger pro
portion of roughage, he was disposed
| to buy palmer, thinner cattle But
| Just now all the old rules are upset.
Feeders, in common with everybody
else, are living in new world-just
as truly new world as If the things
seen by the zealot of Psalms had come
to pass. Corn is high-unprcedented-
y high compared to pre-war prices.
The old rule would be, Feed more
rough stuff" But roughage also is
high-unprecedentcdly so. What is to
be done about it? The United States
Department of Agriculture agrees with
the expression Of many experienced
feeders that, largely, it is matter of
each mans guessing for himself. Still
the department insists that the ac-
cumulated knowledge about cattle
feeding is worth a great deal and that
ii can be applied even under the pres.
ent disturbed conditions by practically
every feeder. The necessities of the
situation will vary with different 10
calities and with different individuals
in the same locality. 1t Is time, the
department experts believe, when no
man should fail to avail himself of
the help of his county agent and ex-
perienced feeders in determining what
Is best to do under particular condi-
tions. Some of the foundation facts
1t is still true, as it always has been,
that the soil fertility of grain farm
is almost certain to be depleted unless
a considerable part of the crop is fed
to live stock and the fertility value
returned to the fields. Feeding, after
all, is ordinarily a part of a balanced
agriculture, and it's profits or losses
can not be exactly figured on the basis
of money received for finished cattle
though every man, of course. should
take all precautions reasonably posi-
BILE to put the balance on the right side
of the ledger for the single operation
The new elements are variously ap-
plcable to different sections and 70
different individuals. At least one of
them however, is pretty general The
feeding period will have to be shorter
than used to be considered desirable.
The maximum period that most feed
ers can contemplate this year is said
to be $50 days but preferably consid-
erably less. That means, necessarily,
that most feeders can not afford to
"feed to finish" 1t has been realized
for a long time that every pound OF
weight put On at the end Of finishing
period costs more than a pound put
on earlier in the process. When every
pound put on at any stage of the
process is costing, as the feeder feels.
too much,~ the old 6 to s months
period is in the discard 1t may come
into play again on a new deal, but not
while the cards are distributed as
they are at present. 1t used to be
standard advice that only animals of
good quality should be used. as they
sell for a higher price and dress a
higher percentage of beef. The de-
partment experts still say that the av
erage feeder is taking less chance on
a good steer than on palmer one, but
there are many feeders, especially the
inexperienced, whom they advise TO
use the palmer kind. 1t just about
sifts down to this expression from
an old, experienced feeder: "a policy
that is practical and profitable for one
feeder may be wholly impracticable
for another. Because one man buys
only top feeders and feeds to fin
ish is no evidence that he is better
cattle man than his neighbor who buys
a lower grade of cattle and does not
feed to a finish" And that means,
again, that every feeder is advised to
analyze his own situation with the
greatest care that he can give to it,
that he avail himself of whatever aid
the county agent can give. that he
obtain the special information avail
able from his State agricultural col
lege and experiment station, and from
the United States Department of Ag-
riculture The whole matter is much
of guess, as everybody admits. But
there is a good deal of system, not 20
say science, in good guessing. The
man who guesses how many beans are
contained in a half-galloH jar does
not simply say, "Well, guess there
are 469,S73 beans in that jar" He
ascertains as nearly as he can. how
many beans fill cubic inch of space
and then he computes the cubic con-
tents of half-gallon jar. With the
variation in sizes of beans, thickness
of glass and other things, 1t is still
enough of a guess, but the guesser is
not going 1t absolutely blind. The
farmer whose profits for the year de-
pend largely on how he comes out
on the cattle he feeds should be at
least as systematic guesser as the
fellow who takes gamble on jar
of beans.