VOL. LXIX
INDIANAPOLIS, MAR. •; «5^A**»
^  '      ■       *    •»'**** ft      I 1... *
Basis of Successful Stock Farming
The increasing demand for heef, pork,
mutton and dairy products is quite
in harmony with the newly inaugurated movement for the conservation of
soil fertility. That the time has come
when the farmer can profitably feed
his crops to stock there is little doubt.
Our one hundred million people need
the meat and dairy products; our
farms need the soil building crops and
the   resulting   manure.
Before  an  attempt   i.s  made  to   feed
out the  products of  the   	
farm to stock corn belt
farmers should plan
to make a wider and
more economical use
of grass and forage
crops. Permanent pastures should be established and more acres
of clover, alfalfa and
grass should rotate
with corn and small
grain crops. The prevalent idea that grass
and forage crops are
not adapted to high-
priced land is due to
the fact that few
farmers keep any record of the cost of producing the various
crops and hence have
no accurate means of
knowing what is profitable and what is unprofitable. Another reason is because very
few farmers are in a
position to make the
most efficient use of
grass and forage crops
in maintaining breeding animals and young
stock. The man who
raises grain primarily
to feed unfinished animals for market cannot
make as profitable use
of these valuable crops
as the man who has "
breeding animals and young stock on
his farm at all times of the year.
Produce Crops That Make Stock
Rations.
Much of the productive grain land
may profitably support grass and clover crops at least one-half of the time.
Farms devoted to the growth of grass,
forage crops and stock raising are
noted in their respective localities for
their harvests of grain. Even in the
most fertile sections, with climates
adapted to general farming, the stock
farmer thus competes on equal terms
with the grain farmer and is most
prosperous of the two. The separation of cattle and sheep breeding and
fattening into two enterprises has delayed the development of a system of
constructive farming in the corn belt.
The closing of vast expanses of range,
together with the increasing demand
for more beef, pork, mutton and dairy
products is causing the owners of farms
In the Central West to realize their opportunities in the production of meat
and dairy    products.      Under    a con-
The Place of Permanent Pastures and Long Rotations in Constructive Farming—L. J. Meredith
structive system of farming they can
make use of one-half of their land for
grass and forage crops and yet secure
greater returns from stock than from
their present diminishing crops of
grain. By adopting cropping systems
to the character of the farms and feeding stock  they can gradually build soil
One of the most powerful agencies
for increasing fertility is the growing
of grass and legume crops in rotation
with other crops. The value of crop
rotation for improving the soil has
been recognized for years In the older
agricultural regions. Getting and returning  a  basic   supply  of  humus  and
Permanent   Pasture   With   Running   Water is a Valuable Asset en Any Farm.
fertility and add  to their net profits.
In evolving a system of stock farming carrying the largest possibilities
and insuring the best returns experience shows that we must not keep animals merely to consume the wastes
from our present system of grain growing, but we must grow a variety of the
kinds of food best suited to their
needs. Farmers        keeping        stock
should plan to raise the kinds of
feed       adapted       to       their needs.
Where these feeds are grown
rotation is unavoidable. Fortunately
the crops best suited to the needs of
stock are the very ones needed to return nitrogen and humus to the soil.
By growing clover, alfalfa, grass and
small grain crops in rotation and converting them into meat and dairy products it ll possible to maintain or increase the fertility of the land. Stock
farming provides for the growing of
soil improving crops and feeding them
out on the farm. In this way more
than two-thirds of the plant food removed by the crops is returned to the
soil in the form of farm manure.
nitrogen, or in other words a soil to do
business with, is what concerns us all.
We must adopt a system Which will
store fertility while it returns a profit
from   sustaining  stock.
What   Crop   Kotntlon   Should   Accomplish.
Crop rotation should accomplish
three objects of prime importance on
the stock farm; it should provide nearly a balanced ration for the stock; it
should secure nitrogen from the air
and add vegetable matter to the soil.
It is possible to so plan and manage a
ration of non-leguminous crops that
the supply of vegetable matter ln the
soil will be maintained in sufficient
amounts to keep the soil in condition
to produce profitable crops, but with
such a system in vogue we must ultimately buy considerable quantity of nitrogen in the commercial form and
purchase protein feeds for our stock.
In a crop rotation of corn, oats, wheat
and timothy, conducted at the Minnesota Station,    lt  was    found    that  the
' vegetable   matter   In   the   soil   was   kept
up  for ten years,  but   during the  same
j period  the   nitrogen content of the soil
diminished    considerably.        The   crops
'' also decreased   on this plot,  but on an
adjoining   plot   where   clover   took   the
I place  of   timothy   iu   the   rotation     the
soil  was richer  in  both  vegetable   matter and   in   nitrogen  at the  end   fit the
decade     than  at     the beginning.     This
proves  to  us  that  in   every  system   of
constructive   farming   we   should   grow
    one or more leguminous
crops   In   our   rotation.
If the rotation ls
properly planned and
carried out and the
crops red out to stock
the soil will be richer,
so far as production of
crops is concerned than
lt was before the plow
touched it. If we feed
out the grasses. forage, straw and grains
of the farm to stock
and make good use of
the manure crop it is
possible to maintain
the supply of humus
and add plant food. If
we grow alfalfa and
clover in rotation with
various grass and grain
crops the nitrogen problem will take care of itself. Barn-yard and
green manures plowed
under, while decaying
will liberate considerable amounts of potassium. Phosphorus is
the one element that is
usually most deficient
on the general stock
farms.
Value   of   Permanent
Pasture   on   Stock
Farm.
By seeding a portion
of the farm to permanent pasture and establishing alfalfa
where it will thrive we can secure a
good start toward successful stock
farming. By adopting a rotation of
clover, timothy, corn and small grain
crops on the cultivated area we may
not only maintain an adequate supply
of vegetable matter, but we may also
secure nitrogen—the most costly plant
food—from the air. Keeping the soil
well filled with vegetable matter is
just as important as obtaining nitrogen
from the air. The vegetable matter
forms a base for the soil bacteria to
work upon while attacking (ho mineral and nitrogenous plant foods in the
soil and making them available. These
bacteria are the agents that tear down
the dead bodies of plants and animals
and restore the elements of plant food
to the round of nature. The processes
of nature are such that atoms of plant
food are used repeatedly, passing In
endless cycle from plant to plant, or
from plant to animal, and back again
to plant, but always with the help of
bacteria. We can, therefore, easily
Continued on page 26.