358 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



"V\''e need money to pay taxes and we finally let them go. We try to console 

 the boys by telling them that the chances were they would not have been 

 good milkers. "Mr. Jones's best looking cow, the one that is so fat all the 

 time, is the poorest milker on his farm," etc., etc. 



That way of cattle raising will never improve our herds nor make the boys 

 contented. I presume not a farmer in this room who has farmed ten years 

 but that keenly feels that he has wasted opportunities to improve his herd 

 of cattle and lost money by that waste. Farmers are often compelled to make 

 sacrifices in order to meet their obligations, but a sacrifice of the foundation 

 of improvement of hercl or flock is a sure road to bankruptcy. 



Sell your poorest stock first every time. If an animal is running you in 

 debt, the sooner you stop it the better. If your cows are natives or grades, 

 cross with registered stock or market the calves before they are six months 

 old, for they will have lost you money enough by that time. If you think 

 the statement extravagant, please put six calves from native sire and six from 

 registered sire in a field together, keep them equally well until a year old, 

 then sell your shipper his choice of five and see if you get rid of a native. I 

 have tried raising sires by crossing grade with registered, but the result has 

 proven very unsatisfactory in every instance but one, and that one was not all 

 I hoped for. 



"With the best of breeding you can not succeed in cattle raising without 

 proper care. They consume the coarse products and require but little grain, 

 but they want plenty to eat, plenty to drink and good shelter from storms. 

 A great many farmers give their cattle the soft side of planks for a bed to lie 

 ■on. I think it far better to cover the planks with clean, dry straw, and use 

 plenty of straw to absorb liquid manure. The wheat straw from an acre of 

 land can be uged in bedding two cows in stanchions between October 1st and 

 May 15th. 



I remember a certain farm on which five hundred bushels of wheat were 

 raised every year. No coarse grain, hay or straw was sold. The straw was 

 nicely stacked just outside of the barn-yard, and the yard, which was small, 

 was always covered with straw in winter, and looked inviting to lie down on. 

 The cattle were stabled nights and always fit for market. By the 1st of May 

 there was no straw stack on the farm.' The farm was hilly and sandy, but the 

 crops were always good and looked just as good on the hills as in the valleys. 

 Before wheat sowing the last of the manure pile was on the field. The barn- 

 yard was as clean as the door-yard. The products sold from that farm were 

 butter, beef, pork and wheat, and as many tons of mill feed were bought as 

 would be produced from the wheat sold, so that really only the flour was sold. 

 That is the application of stock raising to farming that increases the product- 

 iveness of the farm and the wealth of the farmer. With a proper rotation of 

 crops, sufficient first-class stock to convert into fertilizer all the vegetable 

 products of the farm, and a wise use of the fertilizer, no farmer need go from 

 home to get a remunerative price for his products, for they will be done up 

 in neat choice packages ready for shipper or consumer. 



HOKSES. 



Raise only the best standard stock of draft, farm, or all work horses. The 

 demand in both country and city is confined principally to these classes. The 

 railroads, the telegraph, and telephone are doing the messenger work, and 



