Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1922-07-14
Farm Bureau Notes
CROP Il EPORT

Farm Bureau Notes
CROP REPORT
The crop outlook is slightly above
normal for this time Of the year. Cool
weather and sufficient rainfall in most
sections Of the county during the
month Of June favored the growth of
a good hay crop, the harvesting Of
which is now in full swing. There is
a scarcity of clover due to the loss Of
seeding through the hot winds of
1921 and winter killing in some places
during the past season. The rye har-
vest will come on before haying is
finished. About 80 per cent of the
fields are in the process of cutting
at this time. The berry is large and
plump, although there are many miss
ing kernels in the head, straw inclined
to be weak and many fields are going
down. The extremely windy weather
has been unfavorable for this crop Of
late. The wheat acreage is much re-
duced, but prospects for crop are
good. Oats show good color and uni
form, fairly we'll stooled. ~.
The corn lis rather backward and
poor color. It needs warmer weather
to- force growth. Potatoes are well .ad-
vanced for the season and tubers are
setting on well; vines are thrifty and
free from disease. The second spray
ing for beetles has just been completed.
The first cutting of alfalfa, was f.
nished June Is to 20 and the second
cutting is now coming on fast and
will probably be ready about July 20
to 80.
Acreage of soy beans is slightly
increased and the growth is normal.
More rain is needed for the pastures.
Since the purchase of the buffalo and
his placing in the Pine Grove park,
many inquiries have been received as
to the advantages and the ACCESSIBILITY
of crossing the buffalo with native
COWS.
In order to answer this question in
the most intelligent way, information
was sought Of the U. S. Dept. Of
Agriculture and Dominion! Government.
furnished by the late Mossom Boyd Of
Bobcaygoon, Ontario, who begun his
experiments in 1894, by crossing native
COWS with a pure buffalo bull from
the government herd at Banf, Ontario.
The director of Experimental Farms
has summed up the outstanding ad-
vantages as follows:
l. The hide is similar in quality to
that of the buffalo. 1t is durable, has
thick hair with excellent curl and
lustre-might easily be worth 800 for
a robe.
?. Ruggcdness. These animals like
the buffalo are particularly rugged.
They face storms, are never cast on a
hill and are not subject to disease.
3. Rustling qualities. These ami
mails are splendid grazers. An .exami-
nation Of these animals on the range in
1919 showed them to be in much higher
flesh than domestic COWS on the same
range.
4: Meat These animals carry a
high percentage Of flesh along the back,
but are rather light in the thighs and
the meat does not compare with the
choicest domestic beef. It is thought,
however, the dressing percentage might
be improved by the infusion of buffa-
10 blood. The difficulties connected
with the cross breeding has discouraged
most experimenters at the outset. The
problem has not been solved and is
not open to easy solution because
D. In making the initial cross
between the bison and domestic cattle
a very high percentage of the calves
are born dead, due to excessive fluids.
This mortality is not, as is commonly
supposed, due to the heavy shoulder Of
the bison calf. In fact, the pure bison
calves themselves show no excessive
shoulders at birth. This trouble at
birth is often the cause Of the loss OF
the domestic COW, as well as the calves.
It is true that this difficulty is con-
fined largely to the violent first cross
and is not met in later crosses. How
ever, in itself it has discouraged most
experimenters from attempting any
thing further or continuing this work
in large way.
(2). The lack of fertility of these
hybrids, particularly the first cross by
| birds, has been an outstanding diff
| Guilty.
The first cross hybrid males apparent
ly are. rarely fertile, but the females
| are quite commonly fertile. However
the herd owned by the Dominion Exper'
mental Farms, situated at the Buffalo
Park, Wainwright, contains fourteen
| proven breeding females and one,. pos
sibly two, proven bulls. It is hoped
that true cattle bulls will prove more
fertile and will largely solve these
great difficulties.
Alexander Goodger went to Sank