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Show Farm News-Notes Ily LEW MAR PRICE County Agent Who Pays? Dairy herds not properly housed and protected from sudden changes in atmospheric conditions show results immediately when such changes occur. Sudden bursts of winter such as we are having now immediately set the cows back in flesh as well as reducing the milk (low from 20 per cent to as much as 50 per cent. The cows that are fat and fresh will naturally come back to a good flow on good feed as they become accustomed to the changed condition, but they will never nev-er get where they would have been if they had been better protected from the winter weather. Midmilkers and cows beyond that in the stage of lactation lac-tation will many of them be reduced to little or no production, and it is doubtful if they will respond, even to the best of feed and care other than housing. The fact is that you pay for the shelter whether the cows have it or not. And those who do not have it 1 ay each year by decreased production produc-tion and increased (consumption of feeds to say nothing of the inconveniences inconven-iences experienced in making- and feeding in corrals and open sheds. Water, too, is sometimes a factor of considerable influence at this season. sea-son. Cows on pasture are accustomed accustom-ed to drinking many times during the day and night. When they are taken from the pastures and kept in the corral all day they should have the opportunity to drink several times, otherwise they will suffer for drink. Pasture feeds carry a considerable percentage of water, while the dry feeds supplied in the yard is very low in water content, hence the cows will naturally drink more. Milk is from S4 to SI) per cent water, so we cannot expect milk if we do not supply that element. Alfalfa Yields Show Increases in Fertilizer Demonstrations Fertilizer placed on the alfalfa fields now will stimulate earlier growth in the spring, as well as heavier, heav-ier, more thrifty growth all thru the season next year, by conserving water, wat-er, promoting bacterial activities liberating lib-erating otherwise unavailable plant food ,and by supplying a large amount of plant food that has been removed in past years. The humus formed by the decaying of the organic matter of the barnyard manure is one of the necessary requisites re-quisites for retaining water in the soil. Most of our soils specially on the bench lands have a deminishing supply of humus, and hence lo not retain the water from one irrigation to the next so crop growth can continue. con-tinue. Such a check in the growth of a crop is naturally very influencial in the ultimate yield. As the vegetable matter gradually breaks down in the soil, the acid products pro-ducts formed help dissolve and make available to plants some of the otherwise other-wise insoluble plant food present. Farm manures teem with bacteria of various kinds which cause chemical chemi-cal changes also liberating other plant food that is otherwise insolu-able insolu-able and hence could not be used by the plants. Several fields in Beaver Valley that have been either partly or wholly fertilized fer-tilized last year demonstrated very conclusively the greatjei resistance of the crop to either disease or insects in-sects such as weevil; and growth starts earlier in the spring and continues con-tinues later in the fall. At the commercial price of plant food elements, each cow on your place produces annually approximately approximate-ly $36.00 worth of plant food, but unless un-less it is well taken care of, or applied ap-plied immediately to the soil, a large part of the value is lost. Barnyard manure applied to the alfalfa fields now will be almost entirely disintegrated disinte-grated by the freezing and thawing of the winter and spring, together with the wet that will fall during that time. Increased yields resulting from the use of fertilizer on alfalfa fields in the county have been variously var-iously estimated from one half to two and one half tons per acre in a season. |