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Show 1. .; WESTERN FEEDS Sy John T. Calno, III, Utah Agrlcul- ". tural College. Oregon Short Line Demonstration Train lecture. Tk permanency of ay system of ftgriculttir sad the ultimate profit do rived from It are dependent to a great esUat ea tke Marketing of tho crop. "Where ererytklng Is sold and nothing returned to the soil, farms soon run . dewa and the faraer dooo not renp the largest profit, the middle men get ting the lion's sharo. Tho farm Bhould he run llko any other manufacturing V..- .plant where tho raw materials aro -i. worked over and marketed only as. fin- Uhed products ' We of tho west havo an Idoa that other sections being more favored can ,-- do tho feeding cheaper and bettor than wo cnn. If, however, wo look olOBely into this subject, wo find thnt .. tho west has many advantages over nearly any othor section in this Hue. The climate Is ideal for feeding, tho , altitude- makes for good strong feeds and for good lungs, tho soil mukos good feet and bono in our livestock. 'Tho last pertains mostly to tho pro duction of horses. Tho ruggeduoss which most of our western livestock . have, is duo to tho mountnin condi-,- lions and to thoir healthy, out-of-door l"" ' Ufo. Tho west is well supplied with ""'. , feed, as wo have alfalfa -tho best hay '" In the world grown hero to perfec- , , Hon. With this hay good results can '"? ... bo obtained In feeding nearly any class of livestock, though of courso 1 .'. , with somo grain is nocessary and with , - i' all It gives much bettor results. Tim- '- othy and wild hay aro good foods, cs- i pooia'ly if procured from our high 'mountaln.,valloys, and are much want- id for feeding horses. Corn fodder can & be grown to advantago nearly every- !j where, and makes a fine addition to ii the roughage of most any ration. Tho i western grains aro all superior and whoat and its by-products can bo used to good advantago hero. Barloy and tiats are ospocially usoful in feeding horses, dairy cows and beef. Roots, r, though very little used ns yet, can bo irown In great abundance in this sec- tlon and mako a. valuablo .addition to !t moat rations. Tho groat production K lecured with roots in tho west makes t! as able to uso this teed Instead of the mLjSf' '" lucculont silage of tno oast. With jr' this group of feeds and tho prico at P irhlch thoy can bo Bocurod under nvor- f. tge westocn conditions, there is no iJ reason why fooding cannot bo carried &ut successfully. In order to got this feeding problem prob-lem boforo you In the best manner, It will bo necessary to go into tho practical prac-tical sldo of nutrition to a slight extent ex-tent Tho chemist arranges tho substances sub-stances found in plants that aro useful use-ful to tho animals into several (roups. Of theso, protein, carbohy-Jrntes, carbohy-Jrntes, and fats aro th3 ones which ! concern us most. Protoin might be described as material of tho nature of muscle the whito of an egg is a I very good example.' These substances ire used in the body for tho build-Jng build-Jng of musclo, bono, and for making milk. Tho carbohydrates- aro beBt described as materials liko starch or tugar, though in tho plant crudo fibre and other mntorials aro also includ-I includ-I id. This group is-used in th6 nnl- I cnal body for tho production of en- H ergy and fat. Fats aro used for tho if production of onergy and fat but aro B very much more valuable pound for 1 pound than tho carbohydrates. A cer- k tain proportion of each of these is needed every day to koep up tho I work of tho animal body. When S these constituents or foods are given i In Just the right proportion to supply every want of the animal, wo have 1 what is known as a balanced ration. I . Dy ration we mean the amount of I ... feed required for an animal for one 1 day. So balanced ration moaiiB tho I correct proportion of feed for a I given animal to supply all his body wants for twenty-four hours. For In-stance, In-stance, tho dairy cow producing twenty pounds of milk requires about two and a half pounds of digestible protein, thirteen pounds of digestible diges-tible carbohydrates, and five-tenths of a pound of fat for each day. This :-, would be applied approximately by ' feeding twenty-five pounds of alfalfa ! , with a few pounds of grain. By the M digestible material in tho feed wo v ". mean tho amount that can be used ' by the animal, as thoro Is consider able that cannot be digested and as-"''- similated, and so Is of no use. The ; ik proportion of feeds used differs of V course with the age, brcod and typo of animal, so no defin'to and binding law can be laid down ad to amounts j to be fed to all. It Is not necessary "., that you always figure out each ra- V tlon in this exact manner, but wo 1 i-' should know in a practical way what ".", tho feeds contain. If wo food ail al- J .. V falfa, there Is an excess of protein, v ". , which Is a waste to some extont, but If we add some corn the feeds bal- '&., - ancp, as- corn is rich. In carbohydrates uh! noor In oroHj.n.' If we feed bar- ft. s ley alone, tho proportion of fat and carbohydrates will bo in excess and so this feed wou'd not supply the quIromontB In an animal. In ordor to balance It, then, feeds like wheat, bran, or shorts or nlfalfa would havo to bo used. Among the fcodB rich In protein, we havo alfalfa, clover, bran, shorts, peas and sklra-mllk. Among the carbohydrato feeds, we havo timothy, tim-othy, wild hay, corn, barley, oats, sugar beets, etc. As a rule, feeds from the last group should be fed with some from tho first and vice tenia, as this will tend io make tin prepertlons more nearly right and would more nearly supply the needs of the animal. A narrow ration Is one In which tho proportion of protela Is large when compared to tho ameunt of carbohydrates and fats. For example, exam-ple, Alfalfa fed alono would make what Is called a narrow ration. A wide ration is ono In which tho proportion pro-portion of enrbohydrates and fata is largo when compared with the amount of protein. For oxnmplo, corn alono would mako a vory wldo ration. In feeding our young animals, wo find that ns tho ago increases the amount of feed necessary to mako a pound of gain Increases vory much. Tho chenpor golns aro mado whilo tho animal Is young, and for this reason success generally comes to tho mnn who keeps overythlng growing grow-ing from babyhood up.' It coHta con-sldornblo con-sldornblo more to got un animal back In almpo after it has onco lost tho young' fut than It would havo done to havo kopt lilm growing. An animal ani-mal can loso fivo or ton tlmos, moro In ono day than can bo put back on In tho samo time, and for this reason ono day's starving or other poor conditions con-ditions means n great loss to tho avorago fnrmor. Wo cannot expect to havo exactly two animals grow whoro ono has grown before, but wo" ought to got the animals much larger nt tho samo ago than we aro In tho habit of doing in this section. Remember always then to bo a little lenient with food for tho young stock, as thcro is no timo that bo much can bo mado from feed as whllo tho ani-mala ani-mala nro young. In feeding for broedlng animals or just for growth, wo should bo very careful to supply food that will mako for plenty of bono nnd muscle, and this wo gJt from our protein feeds, such as alfalfa. Do not feed your brooding animals too much, especially especial-ly of a concontrntcd fattening feed, butfglv-ir.thcrn enough to keep them In good healthy condition. This does not mean skin-poor, tho condition that we find so many of our western animals in, but means that they are in such Bhnpo that all of tho functions func-tions of their body are working in normal condition. In feeding for market, tho fattening foods cnn bo used to a greater extont, and ono does not havo to bo so careful about tho proportion of musclo and bono-building bono-building material. Tho west has a habit of sonding their nnlmnls to tho markets in Just half fat condition, and ns such thoy nro always sold at reduced prices. If moro caro would bo taken to have everything in good shape, greater profits could bo realized real-ized with practically nil of our live-itcck. live-itcck. Horses, for instance, aro often sold when in thin condition and tho buyers feeding them a few dollars worth of grain add from $25 to $r0 to their value. This could bo dono Just ns well by: tho fnrmor himself, him-self, thus realizing a good deal better profit for his livestock. In feeding beef cattlo in the west, no need but little In the way of barns, though an open shed has some advantages, as It keeps out tho wot and excessive cold. With alfalfa hay, we havo found thnt but very llttlo grain Is necespary tn order to make good gains with beef steers. In experiments conducted nt tho Utah station, gains of nearly two pounds a day woro secured on nn avornge of about four pounds of grain when fed with alfalfa. At ?7 a ton for the nlfalfa and about $22 for the grain, fairly cheap gains were made, and if animals were purchuood and sold in u good way, profit could bo mado from this business. Wild hay is also a good feed for beef cattle, especially If somo grain can be fed in conjunction. In some sections, sec-tions, however, notably along the Doar river, profitable feeding is carried car-ried on, every winter with hay alone. Tho cheapest gains ever reported In feeding wheat for beef were mado n the weBt when alfalfa nnd beet pulp wore used. If the farmer can get hold of beet pulp nnd feed it with good hay, he wou'd find remarkable good gains can bo mado and at a good profit. One thing we should get over in our western beef business busi-ness la feeding our steers until thoy aro three or four years old, as the profits aro generally much larger wheu tho animals are sold at younger ages. (Continued Next Week.) |