FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI. 481 



CATTLl^: FEEDING FOR MONEY— NOT FOR GLORY. 



15Y CAPT. \y. II. A. SMI I II. 



We were taught as children that all Gaul was divided into three parts. 

 So is cattle feeding and cattle production. We have, first, the man who 

 feeds for glory; second, the man who feeds for money; and third, the 

 man who feeds for neither glory nor money. I am interested only in the 

 second man. No man can make a success of any business unless he has 

 a certain goal in view, and farming does not differ from any other busi- 

 ness in this respect. My one idea all the time is to build up the farm. 

 In feeding cattle, I do not figure on the $2.00 advance I hope to get, 

 but on the four tons of extra silage and the one ton of extra alfalfa 

 I am sure to get. For the larger the crops are, the smaller the margin 

 necessary to enable me to market my crops at a profit — and this is my 

 goal, economy of production. 



I learned long ago that the sure profits from a farm were in utilizing 

 the waste, and that cattle feeding was one way of doing this. We have, 

 in my .part of the country, dozens of men, smart commission men and 

 cattle dealers, who have tried to feed cattle, arguing that they were 

 better judges than the average farmer, tTiat they could buy and sell their 

 cattle cheaper; and yet they all, without exception, eventually peter 

 out. Why? Because they figure on making a profit above the market 

 price of grain, feed and labor, whereas, I figure on selling at the market 

 price, and my extra profit comes in producing larger crops from the 

 manure. If, therefore, you start out with this idea firmly worked out 

 in your mind, the idea that you feed cattle not alone to make big gains, 

 but to utilize the waste, success is bound to follow if you go at things 

 in a business-like manner. But to utilize this waste, you must have an 

 outfit or tools to work with. 



There are some things that any farmer is justified in going in debt for. 

 First, to make the farm hog and sheep tight; then get a silo, and, third, 

 grow alfalfa or clover. These three things are absolutely essential in 

 the economical production of beef, pork or mutton. Take the first, the 

 fence. I had been for years very much dissatisfied with the dreadful 

 waste of liquid manure through the rains, and the dreadful state of my 

 feed yards in spring. Last spring we had lots of rain, and my cattle 

 for weeks did not have a dry spot to lie down on, and as a result, they 

 made miserable gains. I made up my mind then that a change was due. 

 Why should cattle be confined in a small feed yard for six to eight 

 months, and I have to haul out all the manure, with 50 per cent of it 

 wasted through rain? How does it figure out on an interest basis? It 

 takes around $2-50 to make a quarter section hog-tight; even allowing 

 12 per cent interest on the fence, this means $30' a year. Could I make 

 that fence pay good interest? During the month of November, I had 

 250 head of two-year-old' steers and 240 hogs, fed fodder on fifteen acres. 

 On December 15th, I moved the cattle on another fifteen acres. These 

 cattle are on feed and are fed their grain and oil meal in the feed yard 

 in the morning; then turned out on the fifteen acres with fodder until 

 4 p. m., at which time they drift back to the feed yard, and find sheaf oats 

 waiting for them in the racks. Sixty-seven pee-wee lambs left $110 for 

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