The Sauk Centre herald., 1940-08-08

MIKE f1EhAlAJ, Oduk OeLtIS
on which plans were made for
supplemental pastures in the form
Of sudan grass and other hot wealth
er pasture plants are now yielding
a comfortable supply of feed COM
pared with other farms that are
dependent solely on blue grass pas
ture. Ordinary blue grass is one
Of those pasture plants that pro-
vides satisfactory supply of green
feed for a relatively short period
in the spring Of the year but pro
vides little or nothing during the
dry summer months. In the fall
Of the year at times it comes back
with limited supply Of green feed
but the amount is never large. In
addition to the use Of sudan grass,
some farms have used a mixture
of alfalfa and bromegrass satisfac-
torily as a supplemental pasture.
Those who were not in a posi-
ton to make plans for supplement-
al pastures have in many cases re-
sorted to other types Of supple
mental feeding such as outdoor
feeding racks for hay. Flies have
for years been given the blame for
the drop-off in summer milk pro-
duction whereas the real fault, ac-
cording to experimental evidence,
has been the shortage of feed avail
able for the dairy cows. In addi-
ton to supplemental hay feeding
a few successful dairymen are also
resorting to the practice Of feed
ing a limited amount Of grain dur
ing the summer months. Both the
supplemental hay feeding and the
grain feeding during the summer
cause the dairy cows to build up
a little more body condition and
come into the freshening period in
the fall in better flesh more body
condition and come into the fresh
ening period in the fall in better
flesh than is usually the case. This
additional flesh has very satis-
factory effect on milk flow during
the early winter months. All in all,
on every farm provision should be
made for additional feed besides
the little that can be picked up
from dried out pastures at this
season Of the year.
Stearns county dairymen, and
that includes almost every farmer
in Stearns county, will be interest
ed in the dairy prospects at the
present time, according to the
county agents office, st. Cloud.
It is true that on farms we have
more cows than ever, and for the
most part, until recently, pastures
have been better than a year ago
taking all areas of the U. S. into
consideration. AS a result milk
production has been unusually
high. The consoling factor as far
as dairy production is concerned is
the fact that dairy products have
as yet gone on a world price basis.
In other words, dairy products are
produced in the U. S. in quantity
generally a little smaller than the
American consumption. Such an
arrangement makes the protective
tariff effective. Should these pro-
ducts reach a point where this
country would go on an export
basis dairy products in the U. s.
would be on the basis Of world
prices as is true in the case OF
wheat and some of the other i'm
portant agricultural commodities.
The agricultural situation as q
whole today can be summarized
about as follows: domestic demand
is good but foreign demand Is very
poor. Since dairy products as yet
depend entirely on domestic de-
mand, they are in more favorable
position today than some Of the
other farm products. In the cities
business is better and people are
buying more dairy products while
stocks Of dairy products in stor-
age are only about average for this
time Of the year. Last month the
Federal Surplus Commodities Cor
poration bought considerable but
ter, cheese, evaporated milk, and
dry skimmilk. Likewise the Brit
ish Purchasing Commission has al
so bought large quantities Of evap-
grated and dry skimmilk. That
buying of course has tended to
strengthen the prices Of manufact-
ured dairy products. Economists
say that dairy product prices are
likely to average higher the last
half of this year than they did the
last half of last year mainly be-
cause of the better buying power
Of consumers. A slight increase in
exports of manufactured dairy pro-
ducts Is also in the picture.