The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-23
HOW TO UTILIZE CORN sTovER

1 ton. but it should be conserved as l largely as possible for human consump- 1 tion.
 HOW TO UTILIZE CORN STOVER The estimated total yield of corn stover in the United States is 245.25S,C00 tons. | According to figures from the bureau of
 crop estimates, the corn stover was dis posed of as follows: 57 per cent d42,OO0.- eco tons) was fed to cattle; 2S.6 per cent | (5S,0000 000 tons) was fed to other live stock; 3.7 per cent G,00O000 tons) burned; 10.9 per cent (25,OOO00O tons) plowed un- der; 2.6 per cent (6.0000 600 tons) sold, and lL9 per cent 4,O00,009 tons) used for other
 purposes, most of which was for bedding. The yield of dry stover, as estimated. varies from l to 61z tons per acre. with the average close to tons per acre. The estimated value is about g a ton.
 The disposition of corn stover in the United States is very similar in char acter to the disposition of straw, though differing somewhat in degree. About 55 peE cent of the straw is fed, while S1,5 per cent of the stover is
 utilized in that way. Of tre stover fed to live stock however, it is esti- mated that at least 35 per cent is wasted. Straw is burned to the ex- tent of 5 per cent, while only 3.7 pes cent of the stover is disposed of in thas manLer. Straw sold amounted to 7.& per cent while only 2.6 per cent of the stover is marketed This is to be ex-
 pected, since straw is more easily ham,
 dled in marketing. About 12 per cent of all the straw is used for bedding, while less than per cent of the stover is so used.
 BURNING A GREAT WASTE It is needless to say that burning the stover is a great waste, although 1t seems to offer quick and easy method of cleaning the ground preparatory to
 blowing. This system is most largely practiced where the corn is snapped, or husked, in the field, leaving the stalks standing.
 In some sections of the United States cattle are wintered with Stover as the sole roughage, supplemented with little grain. Breeding cows or stockers will winter nicely on stover and oat straw, together with a small quality of either cotton seed meal, linseed oil meal or corn The meal, when fed without other grain, should be fed in the cake form, preferably of nut size. when fed in that manner it is not lost by dropping through cracks or by be- ing blown away, and is not spoiled by saliva or rain.
 PREPARING STOVER In preparing stover for feeding pur-
 
 eral conditions involves less labor than shreddng, and the waste is about off, set by the labor factor. Chopping or shreddng increases the palatability and reduces the storage space for hous- ing the crop, but the labor involved greatly increases the cost of prepara- tion. If cheap power and labor arc
 available on the farm, shredding or
 cutting is to be recommended. Dry corn stover may be shredded or cut
 and put into the silo if sufficient water is added. The waste is greatly de-
 creased in this manner, and the re- sulting feed somewhat resembles green silage and has been used sue cessfully by some farmers.
 The total value of the stover pro- duced in the United States in 1914 was
 about s436,S67,0 ,000. Almost 4 per cent as stated above, or about s14,757, GOO worth of it was burned. This waste astonishing when one considers the feeding value of the material thus de- stroyed. To utilize the wasted straw and stover by feeding to cattle would, of course, involve the use of large quantities of concentrated feeds