Show FEED AVAILABLE FOR CATTLE IS WASTED WOO S M aia WW 4 A q T 3 il LIX ae THRESHING SCENE IN NORTHWEST from tile united states department of 0 A agriculture iture A vast quantity of feed fly available alla e gor V cattle is now either cither wasted absolutely or put to some less profitable se s says ays a recent report illich the department has just published as part V of a comprehensive survey of the taire meat situation in the united instates states failure to utilize tile full r value alue of this material has kin necessarily the cost of producing ment neat has diminished the profits from cattle feeding edine fe and has discouraged arnny many farmers from engaging in an industry essential to their permanent V iro according to the report already I 1 ll 11 mentioned Dention ed tile the loss in grain straw and nd corn stover amounts to more inere than annually both of these products are disposed of most economically when fed to cattle in connection with ith some for form of concentrated teed feed straw Is especially valuable in carry ling ing the breeding herd through the kwinter in wintering stockers and us as A 11 supplementary roughage for fattening cattle stover too is an excellent feed for wintering cattle especially ay iy mature breeding cows nevertheless e ess in ninny many sections of 0 the country inhere these products are abundant flottle attempt is made to take adeall tago aage of their value tor for these purposes I 1 of an annual straw crop of approximately i 1 lately tons it Is estimated that only two thirds Is put to its best juse livestock live stock production of the Fema remainder inder a little more than one half is sold or turned under and the rest est 15 per cent of the total crop Is Is burned burning is practically fin an ander ib solute waste and although plowing ander does docs coa contribute tribute something to oli mil fertility the benefit to the land is rs less than that which would be 18 derived torn the use of the straw to reduce produce manure of all systems of permanent soil fertility 1 ays fays the report none is so practical br r as easily available as that of feeding live stock the average value of all ail kinds of straw Ss Is placed at about 5 a ton in many sections of course no such price can be realized for it and as a matter of fact only about 8 per cent of the crop actually Is sold the figare mentioned hoi however ever may be taken as aa representing the value to the farmer of straw it if lie he will use it properly in ills his farming operations as feed or bedding in order to illustrate how this As may be done the report gives three bree sample rations tor for wintering a reeding herd of beet beef cattle on straw combined with silage shock corn and cottonseed otton seed or linseed meal anyone lit f these rations it Is said will prove economical conor they are as follows rations actions for wintering breeding cows tion 1 1 I 1 hyraw 10 10 cottonseed meal or linseed meat meal tation nation 2 i stra straw w 20 cottonseed cake or oil cake 2 tian 3 straw 10 shock corn 10 20 cottonseed meal i 1 i in this connection it Is pointed out iise also that feeding straw in the winter ivill rill insure under certain circum K atances the full utilization of sumner sumer er grass in a number of western r tates tales it frequently happens that grass d oes es to v waste aste because feeders are un filing to pay the high prices asked or steers in the spring with an ft sundance bun dance of straw on hand to lessen he e cost of wintering feeders can tale take id vantage of the lower prices tor for cattle in the fhe fall to secure in reasonable n terms at that time lb bough nough stock to pasture nil all the grass he following year oo 00 the production of corn stover Is 0 hout bout twice that of grain straw p 1 mounting to approximately 00 tons a year A larger percentage ja li 1315 of this Is fed than of the straw siut 1 lut the waste Is nevertheless aston t shang ling for this poor methods of 0 eding ceding are largely responsible by 1 ar r the most economical method of addling andling corn is by en but as a after of fact only 81 per cent of the acreage I 1 acreage was put in the silo in 1914 if he e year in which these investigations ere made about 11 per cent was ut at for or greenfeld groen green teed feed and 81 per cent lowed to mature for or grain it is in he last portion of the acreage that lahe e greatest waste occurs stripping tahe he leaves from the stalks which are subsequently yub burned removing the stalk talk above the top ear only leaving ahe e stalks to stand in the field dihe e loss 1093 0 of leaves and leaching have moved much ot of their fertilizing lue aluc are all un unthrifty thrifty methods almost 4 per cent ot of the over Is burned ilis k though instead ot of ing a potential source of revenue it woo was merely a nuisance to beg begotten often 06 of ul a percentage of stover that y hills thrown away Is as high sat as I 1 or 8 per cent and the total loss loas to the tha country from the practice Is estimated at henrly neni ly lo a year to obtain satisfactory results from tile the feeding of farm hages linges such as straw and stover they hey must be ba combined with some form of concentrated teed feed at the present time largo large quantities of such feed in the form of cottonseed meal and cake corn molasses peanuts and beans are exported for the we use of european feeders it if the straw and stover that are now wasted were employed to feed more cattle these concentrates could be consumed at home the result would be a tremendous saving not only in the cost of producing beef but in the cost of enriching the soil sell as well jell in 1914 for example about I 1 tons of cottonseed meal ineal half tile the total production were applied directly to the soil as fertilizer it tills this had been fed to cattle instead thrice three quarters of the fertilizing value would have been returned to the soil ns as manure the loss of the other fourth would have been fir far more than counterbalanced by the alie profit on the meat produced economically by the meal find and the necessary hages much the same tiling thing Is true of tho the other oil meals the value of these meals Is far better appreciated in europe than here denmark for example feeds annually pounds of oil cake to each of her mature cattle the united states approximately 24 pounds furthermore the european feeder Is aware of the fact that the high hilgh protein meal while more expensive to buy Is more mora economical to use meal of this quality Is seldom sold on the domestic markets because the american farmer lias has not yet learned its value cottonseed and linseed are perhaps the best known of the oil meals but there are others the he use of which as feed could be profitably extended both peanut and soy bean meal and a n d cake for instance are la in good demand in europe the efficient use of these and other feeds discussed in the report Is of the utmost importance to the american farmer it Is pointed out because the day when close calculation in feeding was inas not necessary is in all probability past hereafter it Is likely that success will depend upon ability to put to the best use all available products A greater knowledge of what these products are and of the ways in which they can be fed will result in fix tha elimination of enormous waste |