JOURNAL:
or
Cardeh-
n-<^;;
vol. Lvni.
INDIAN ____SLIS, JULY 25, 1903.
NO. 30
%ivt mock.
wiih HADE THE K08T HONEY.
Referring to live stock farming Prof.
i'aini*l of the Iowa Station says:
"In the long run* the farmer will make
the most money who devotes his fields to
the growing of forage crops to feed stock,
making use of all the raw products at
home, thereby saving not only much of
the cost of transportation, but maintaining the fertility of the soil. By doing
so, corn belt farmers will maintain their
pre-eminence in agricultural lines. Experience of the past few months haR
shown that the men who stuck to feeding
and were not tempted by high prices to
sell their corn have made the most money.
Anything that will enhance the productive capacity of our soils for the production of forage conditions will help the
farmer."
l.IVK STOCK JUDGING.
The fairs and expositions have made a
great advance in live stock judging in
the past 10 to 20 years. Years ago men
were picked up at the fairs without much
thought of fitness for the work, so it was
understood that they would be tair and
honorable   in   their   work. Now   fair
managers take great pains to select men
who have studied animals and animal life
and those who have been long familiar
with the various kinds and breeds to be
judged for prizes. Fitness for this work
is very important, and when awards are
made now by such judges one rarely hears
severe criticism as formerly, for men entering animals worth showing generally
know themselves when the work of judging has l.cen well done.
vincial government to Canadian exhibitors at Chicago the .Columbian management awardeal prizes to the breeders of
Ontario and Quebec as follows: On cattle, $3,9h0; horses, $1,305; sheep, $5,200;
swini', $1,395; total, $11,8*30. The prize
fund provided for the Live Stock Exhibit
at the World's Fair next year will be
nearly twice as large as the amount
awarded at Chicago in 1893, and the skillful breeders of Canada of whom there
are many, can be depended upon to exhibit
stoak of much superior quality as to justly entitle them to receive a liberal share
of the quarter of a million of dollars set
apart by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition for stock shown at St. Louis in
1904."
THK NKW I'lKK FOOD LAW.
The act of Congress authorizing the
Department of Agriculture to put an end
to the impure importations to this country goes into effect the middle of this
month. Germany has been hampering
trade in the meats of this country, and
will soon get a taste of her own medicine.
This movement in Germany was set in
motion by her agrarian nabobs and millionaire owners of agricultural lands, in
order to profit at the expense of the consuming classes, by keeping out the meats
produced and sold in that country where
the demand is so large. The sausage,
wine and other German products known
to be adulterated and impure, and tho
Department of Agriculture has all the
inspection arrangements made to detect
these, and confiscate cargoes, if necessary. Ample notice has been served on
foreign exporters to this country, and
timely preparation made for the going
into effect  of  the new  law.
CANADA  LIVE STOCK FOE ST. I.OIIS
K\ri>*-ITIi.N.
Hon. Henry Wade, of Toronto, Outar-
i,a tha. Registrar of Live Stook for Can-
a,!a. writes F. D. Coburn, Chief of the
Bxposition's Department of Live Stock,
as Hollows:
"We are working up a large exhibit
for your Exposition next year. Have
already waited on Hon. Sydney Fisher,
Minister of Agriculture, asking him for
a large grant of money, which I hope
and expect we will  receive."
•'Canada made an exhibit of rare excellence at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1.993," says Col. C. F. Mills,
Secretary of the Live Stock Department,
"and in not a few of the classes received
the larger portion of the prize money. In
addition to the prizes given  by the Pro-
MAI.N FEKI) OF 400 CATTLE I'K.K HAV.
If the Indiana Farmer should say
bluntly that about 400 cattle per day can
be fied mainly on the products of one acre
of good corn land, without any further
explanation, it would be passed over in
doubt and unbelief. But we do say that
and proceed to explain further that the
feeding at the State Experiment Stations,
where it has been repeatedly tested, say
it is true. And yet scores of farmers
go right along disregarding the facts and
wasting feed by the acre on only a little
over two hundred cattle per day in the
same old way their fathers fed a hundred
years ago. This same class of farmers
see how steam railways have taken the
place of stags coaches and horse freight
lines, and how the electric interurban cars
are whirling their milk, eggs and butter to
market, regardless of bad roads, and
they avail themselves of these improvements. Why not also adopt the improved methods of feeding, and thus save
nearly one-half of the field products. The
silo? Yes. That is what the silo does.
Silage is canned goods for the cattle, like
canned fruit is food for the cattle owners.
They all put up canned fruit. Why not
ean the corn for the cattle? It has been
shown time and again that with a part
of the daily ration succulent animals keep
in healthy growing condition. Thia is
secured by putting part of the corn crop
into the silo for winter feeding, and for
feeding again after the drouth has cut
down the grazing in summer. Silage
is not recommended as an exclusive feed
tor cattle, just as canned fruit is not a
complete ration for men, but fed with
clover, or cow peas or soy beans, or alfalfa hay, shredded fodder, and ground corn*
for a concentrate, silage is excellent and
a big part of the daily ration with the
advanced farmers who have adopted the
improvement. In the past few years
general feeders as well as the Experiment
Stations bave proven that silage is good
for feeding beef) cattle, as well as for
dairy cows.
Think on these things and if the reader
desires to consider building a silo, then
send for a copy of the last bulletin published on how to build silos, and their
coat, to Purdue University, Lafayette,
Inaliana. It will cost you only a postal
card to do it
COBX ami COM kkkium;.
We said in September last year that
corn "would hardly get below 40 cents a
bushel. It has averaged above that price
in the great central western markets ever
since, and it looks very much now as
tli*ni;li priias were to keep up to that
another year, if not higher. In view
of this it is important that the greatest
value be made out of corn that is to be
fed, and the most of it is nsed in feeding.
Wi* have already published the statement
drawn from experience by the Indiana
Experiment Station, that there was a
ili'i*i.la*al advantage in feeding corn and
cob meal to live stock, showing the per
ctnts, etc. We have also quoted other
Stat.* Stations to the same effect. Prot
Henry of the Wisconsin Station*, in his
book on "Feeds and feeding," takes this
view also, and says that corn and cob
meal has been found to giv«> better returns in feealing than pure corn meal. He
says: "It has been suggested that pure
corn meal lies heavy in the animal's stomach ,and while in this condition is not so
readily attacked by the juices of digestion. On the other hand, the particles
of cob when associated with the meal
causes llie mass to lie loose in the stomach, iu condition fer easy digestive action."
Large corn growers and feeders as a
rule hold to the same views and have
their own feed mills. Here is Mr. J.
B. Cooper, of Kankakee Illinois who annually grows hundreds of acres of corn,
and is a large feeder, in a Drovers' Journal interview, a few days ago said:
"I feed my cattle mostly on corn and
cob meal. I have my own machinery
and have no trouble iu getting the grain
worked up as I want it. No, I do not
like to have the ear corn ground too fine
for feeding. Just ground so that the
<»ttle will have no trouble in eating it.
I find that corn fed this way is highly
satisfactory.
'"I like corn and cob meal because it
ir a good, reliable, safe feed to give to
cattle. I have found that cattle when
fed this combination* seldom if ever scour.
Added to this feature is the fact that
there is little danger of stalling as when
•he grain is fed whole.
"I do not mean to say that there is
much nutritive value in the corn when
ground into meal, but the physical condition of the grain is such that it goes
into the animal's digestive system in
such a manner as to be handled by
th.se organs. I have never had any
trouble in feeding corn and cob meal
and am so well pleased that I do not
ask for anything better."
With continued high priced corn it is
important that its preparation for feeding
be made in the most economic manner,
lioth using it in corn and cob meal, and
as Mr. Cooper says, in a way to be most
fully and  readily  digested.
Irtovsc JJepavtment.
Wan T<> WATER I10RSKS..
Prof. Pritchard says that he believes
that iu 99 cases out of every 100 of colic,
taking the general acceptation of the
term, could be traced to indigestion, and
that, in his opinion, the large majority
of cases of indigestion arose from one
cause—improper  feeding.
Other veterinarians take the same
view, that in watering horses immediately
after feeding them grain so interfferred
with the gastric juices of the stomach
as I.ml to bringing on indigestion, and say
that the watering should be done before
fi'ciling when the horse is likely to drink
much water.
SHOULD!! (iAi.i.s.
This is a trouble almost impossible to
prevent during hot weather and heavy
farm work. The following is suggested
to prevent galls:
"Take an ordinary sweat pad and cover the surface next to tbe shoulder with
white soft oilcloth. Be very careful to
have it put on very sniootn, without any
wrinkles or lumps on its surface. The
cover is put on by neatly sewing it with
strong* thread, so that it will not become
displaced. The trouble with the horses'
shoulders in this respect is caused by
sweating, and as the oilcloth presents a
cool, dry surface and does not hold the
dampness as leather or cloth does, it prevents the shoulder from becoming sore
in   almost  every  instance."
Live Stock and Farm Fertility.
An instance was related the other day
of the value of stock raising and its incidental clover rotation, in building up
the productive capacity of the land. Before the perfection of the Chicago cold
storage beef industry large herds of cattle were driveir to the Washington market from northern Virginia farms. These
farms were then models of fertility. The
rotation was wheat, corn and clover, and
little if any commercial fertilizer was
used. The beef produced was of the
finest. When Chicago beef began to be
shipped everywhere these farmers did
not find it so profitable to raise steers
and drive them to Washington. They
dropped off their live stock growing and
in a few years had to begin the use of
commercial fertilizer. These farm lands
have since steadily decreased in productive capacity until now most of them
are worn out and will not produce 12
bushels of wheat  to the acre.
Splendid pastures yet, and here we arc
past the middle of July.
DIGESTION KXPERIMENTS.
There is just as much importance attached to the matter of horse digestion
of foods as that of other animals, and
yet little attention has been hitherto
given to the subject. Dr. Allen of the
United States Department of Agriculture
has pointed out the importance of more
research in digestion experiments and
otber studies with horses. The suggestion made is a good one and is worthy of
the consideration of our experiment stations. While investigations with other farm
animals are being carried on in a large
number of our stations, experiments with
the horses nave been neglected. It is
true that many of our leading horse raisers are constantly making new discoveries in this line, yet but little publicity is
given to their findings, while, if on the
otner hand, the experiment stations would
take this line of experiments up, it would
prove of great value to the country. In
the matter of digestion experiments alone
t-.ere is a large field for original investigation.
The Maryland station has conducted a
limited number of experiments along this
line, but more are needed, with such
common feeding stuffs as grasses, clover,
timothy and other hays, also corn silage,
wheat, barley, wheat bran and many of
the by-products which are being offered
on the markets. Some of these feeding
rations have been studied, but more data
is needed in order that satisfactory results may be given.
A common practice among many of
our horse sellers is to fatten horses for
tbe horse market. Practically no study
has been made of the best rations suited
for this purpose, nor the length of time
the feeding should be continued, and
the comparative costs of the gains made.
This line of investigation alone would
give much valuable information to buyers and sellers alike.
Feeding Work Horses.
The  Iowa Station work horses,  weigh-