Show TIAM NI alfar ae FA 0 PAY I 1 by BV PROF P G HOLDEN HOLDEM former dean of the iowa agricultural Aorl cultural college dim 1 q 0 T t cn ARM p G K 0 4 M 3 hogs hogi raised on en alfalfa LIVE STOCK AND LEGUMES A ton of average lown iowa or illinois so soli contains but a few pounds of actual fertility that la Is plant food material which Is available or ever con can be become coille available for the use of crops the remainder Is simply waste material end and cannot bo be used by plants aiwood as food when this fertility tins has once been exhausted remember that it Is gone forever and will not return except as it Is purchased the actual value of soli soil Is shown by its power to produce crops tula this productiveness depends not only on the kind kill of soil but upon the condition of it the soil must be well drained contain a suin clent amount of vegetable matter or humus and bs be well worked in order to bo be in proper physical condition to produce crops those these conditions tire are brought about principally by tillage and crop rotation if it Is possible then for the farmer to control the air circulation in the soil its water holding capacity tile the bacterial content and its aval available lable plant food by proper soil boll tillage it Is surely profitable pron table for every farmer fanner to give his land careful personal study so that the conditions in III it tire are tile tho best for the production product loa of tile the largest crops of the best quality productive land on farms farina where live stock Is kept the land Is much more productive than on oil farms where exclusive grain farming fanning Is followed where tile the crop crol Is sold on tho the market all of the plant plant food contained in the crop removed Is lost to tho the coll call where all crops oro are sold a practice familiarly known as mining the soli soil the result Is without fall the impoverishment of the soil boll this practice will result in a deficiency la in organic matter which la is one of tho the most valued properties la in farm manure and can be most economically no supplied by its use no ninn man should expect to make a profit from farming by growing one 1 supply and therefore the supply ot of available plant food hod had been more nearly maintained tit hi the rotation of the plots A great difference in the color of the soil of the two plots tit at tho the station elation where corn had been grown continuously both with and without manure w was as noticeable tho the plot wits much lighter in color and of much poorer texture thus showing very clearly its lack of humus us its compared with the one beside it it must not bo be understood from froin tills this that crop rotation alone will maintain fertility but it Is the first essential and the rot rotation at 11 must include legume crops legumes are hunius humus building 1 chops I because in order to put humus tit in the soil nitrogen Is necessary and these P plants ill it 8 secure it train from the gilr clr till experiment shows clearly tile tho tit advantages I 1 of live stock farming in ill maintaining soil fertility upon the plot where farm manure wits was applied with a rotation of corn wheat and clover there was it a margin of 53 bushels of corn per acre above the cost of growing intimating estimating unit that it will cost 25 bushels or about 10 per acre to grow the corn there la Is a cash profit of CO 60 cents per bushel of 2050 20 CO per acre in the second plot where no manure was applied avith it rotation a 04 corn wheat and clover there was n d margin of 20 bushels above the cost of growing or a cash profit of 13 on the plot where corn was grown continuously for 17 years without rotation there was a loss of OGO per acre or 13 bushels below the cost of producing an acre of corn feed what you raise and raise what you feed some of the crops will bo be marketed but in tile the end you will find that hog skins and steer hides tire are the best grain sacks that you can have on tile the farm convert your grain and hay ahny crops into beef and pork and drive it to market on the hoof alfalfa 4 at I 1 lil V Y MW ir excellent bf beef Spi clment crop and devoting two thirds of hla his time to doing it farming Is a business and requires nil all of our energies intelligently directed interesting experiments among hundreds of 0 experiments conducted in the past ja 25 years with dl olli terent cropping systems one ot of them carried on for a period of 17 years by tho the missouri agricultural college stands out as a striking example of the lie influence wo we have upon tile the soil to improve it or exhaust it as we choose live stock and legumes Lec umee JF for r 17 years three systems of farming tr were practiced on three plots of ground aud on oil plot one n system of livestock stock farming was practiced that Is corn wheat and clover were grown in rotation with grain crops tho the crops led fed to live stock steel and the manure returned to tho the land on plot two a simple rotation of 0 vern corn wheat and clover was followed and the crops harvested and sold oft off tho the farm on plot throe three corn was grown crown every year for 17 years and every crop hilr harvested vested and removed front from ill the land on this plot the yield wits was reduced in the last year of at the experiment to bushels bus liels per adire where tho the land hod had simply been rotated to corn wheat and clover tho the yield was bushels per acre and where manure was added tit in n corn wheat and claver rotation tho the yield was bushels per acre no more striking results of at the effect of crop rotation could be found olad there Is tittle little doubt that the most cause of this increased ewid la in in the tact fact tnt the humus clover corn ants and other crops crop when sold on oil the market take away fertility which will never return to ta your soil the accompanying chart shows the fertility contained in alfalfa clover corn rind find oats in comparison with milk beef pork nod and butter when you prow grow three tons of alfalfa about tho the average acre yield and sell bell it you rot rob your soil to tho the amount of about 28 when you marz market CO bushels bus liels of corn you lose about 15 in fertility i but if you feed the corn and alfalfa to n steer or a hog or a dairy cow 70 to 80 per CL cant nt of tile fertility will bo be returned a to you in manure and go back to th the land if you save the manure for elvry pounds of at beet shipped away tho the loss will bo about COO pounds of pork about ibi LIVE STOCK AND LEGUMES THE BASIS OF PERMANENT agriculture ROTATION 17 MISSOURI LESS COST ts sit alfy iy ay CORR CORN WHEAT CORR CORN WHEAT CORN d oata CLOVER YEW YEAR M pounds of butter about 4 cents market your crops through live stock and you will make more money from your youe I 1 farming operations build up your soil sau ant ani mako make your farm worth more tho the iowa neef Producers 1 tion carried on an am investigation la 1 I 1 iowa own co covering a period oc at alvo years yeara data was gathered Bath cred from 20 lown iowa farms farina in nine little different counties cou title throughout the state see chart on oil ten average livestock live stock farms ca bushels of corn per acre were pro deuced as against 30 bushels bushel per ncr acre produced on ten tell overage average grain farms on ten tea average stock farms SO bushels of oats per acre were produced us its against 32 12 bushels per acro ucro on tea avera gif grida farms ten tell average stock farina produced 22 tons of clover per acre as against 1 12 0 tons por per acre on oil ton ten avera average ge grain farms these comparisons speak for foi themselves one crop system A one crop system will impoverish any country and in turn lt will impoverish the people that are on oil its farms farina it la Is only through diversification of crops and the using of our en bergles every day odthe of the year that we can call make a rich country livestock live stock farming la Is diversified Il fled farming fanning and calls for a system of croll rotation with legumes it returns fertility tilita to the soil sell it adds interest to the lie work of tile young people and finally it Is best insurance of an in come the kind of live stock depends u upon p on to local I 1 conditions first the preference of the farmer second the environment viron ment cows hogs horses mules beef cattle till and sheep offer a largo large range of choice and tit lit into many conditions dit ions horses and hogs oie are found on all every farm rind and they become very profitable to tile man mail who understands them sheep raising and dairying may inny be as one lierd herd or handled hanc llod separately in either case they will be found profitable Tar varying ying combinations of live stock may be found profitable alve livestock stock farming requires it a dependable pen dable feed supply silage and alfalfa idi ali I 1 11 afa tire an excellent basis corn and other similar sli nilar crops furnish silage each farmer should make a business of growing pis ills own boef beef as well FEED WHAT YOU RAISE FERTILITY MAlIK MA ETED IN FARM PRODUCE int AM 3 to tans 4 42 tw 1680 CLOW bo su 1470 14 70 con J 50 tolu 0 T asam 1600 L I 1 I 1 fy ISO v mm W f ll lilt 11 ZI n I 1 SO rat KT CAME ami too LIS hi 3 i I 1 87 rat FAT mogi HOGS 00 L mma MHO WT T INI CR CM I 1 10 J ns as his own vegetables also hp his own protein feed for his stock and expend as little money its as possible for bran cottonseed meal and other high priced protein feeds dairy essentials the dairy business too calls for intellectual tel activity such exercise Is good for the boys and girls the dairy business evens up things on tile the farm it gives steady employment it Is a 11 cash business A man loan feels independent when he knows that his income Is steady dairying builds up tho the farm it requires fewer acres nod and consequently lends to more neighbors there Is always an or air of prosperity about a well handled dairy farm the dairy business adds permanency to tho community the success of the man engaged in fit it depends upon keeping milk records it costs but little and returns a hundredfold there are good cows and poor cows A farmer should find out which are the poor cow corsand annd sand which tire are the good ones tills this can be done by marking down what they produce each day and using the babcock test milk the good cows and sell the unprofitable ones for beef peed ced what you raise and raise what you feed tins been the lie watchword of the best fa la in america for many years it la Is the only safe system living on the farm mering means more than most of us realize not just to live there but to make it a homo home not just to grow corn wheat and alfalfa but for the benefits that may como coal to our homes home and 10 lo our children through the things that wo we produce it does not malze aiato much difference how low much wheat WP we raise or how much corn we grow but it does docs make a tremendous difference what wo we do with the profit that we got get front from the he corn and the other things that are produced from the soil farmer was waa power the pioneer american farmer of the nineteenth century was a power in hla his day ito ile did well ills his work of clearing away the forests establishing homes building roads and settling the wilderness and if lie he lid did not cultivate and earn for the soil boll as he raould havo have done we cannot blame him blot because thu the need was not pressing that hat day it was not his problem the caro care of tile tho soil Is the problem of tho the bariner of today ire ho la Is being called upon for many things that are real necessities ile iio must improve hla his soil ile iio must not forgot forget that llo live stock anol legumes anro tho the basis of Perman permanent ont agriculture |