THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV 133 



is that we shall prevent the waste of coarse fodders, efficiently convert- 

 ing them into salable beef. Our corn stalks, fed as silage, should yield 

 a big revenue. We must have legumes in our rotations, preferably al- 

 falfa or clover, although soy beans and cowpeas may do, so as to keep 

 up the nitrogenous fertility. The successful general farm practices in- 

 clude a legume as one of the crops. These rough leguminous hays grown 

 in our fields and fed in our feed lots or as pasture not only will keep 

 up the nitrogenous fertility, but will furnish the organic matter so vitally 

 essential in a productive soil The fertility residue resulting from cattle 

 feeding must ever and anon be one of the profits derived from the feed- 

 ing operation. The time has not yet come when we can advantageously 

 buy in commercial quantities all of the fertilizing elements, such as 

 nitrogen, phosphorus, etc., needed in the maintenance and conservation 

 of our soils. 



We are on the border-edge of a new beef making period. It is now 

 up to us to cut all the costs of production to their minimum. This is 

 to be done largely by refining the operation, growing our own cattle of 

 the best possible beef making breeds, and finishing them out as baby 

 beeves. We will grow alfalfa and clover because they are premier cattle 

 feeds as well as most superior soil restorers. We here in Iowa should 

 bear in mind that our location is ideal for beef production, that we are 

 in the center of a cheap food producing region, and that on all sidesi of 

 us the best parts of other states touch. We have as cheap corn as any 

 state in the Union, which means cheap silage. We can also grow alfalfa 

 and clover, and, because of their relative cheapness as compared to 

 other states, market such feedstuffs to more advantage through the live 

 stock than by selling them direct from the farm. Beef finishing and 

 growing tend to ultimately settle in those sections of abundant cheap 

 feed. Meat, milk, poultry and egg production,are centering in Iowa be- 

 cause we can thus condense our products for shipment and at less pro- 

 duction cost than our neighbors. If any middle west state is going to 

 raise cattle, it is going to be Iowa, largely because transportation facili- 

 ties, general location and economic advantages favor us. 



What is the value of an acre of corn stalks if preserved in the form 

 of silage? Our figures, secured by actual trial, show that when clover 

 hay is worth $10 as a cattle food, corn silage is practically worth two- 

 fifths as much, or $4. Last year, with silage costing $3.20 a ton, the clo- 

 ver hay would have had to have been bought at $7.66 to have been 

 equally as efficient. However, assuming silage to be two-fifths as valu- 

 able as clover, which is less than the figures show, we find that ten tons 

 of corn silage was worth, at the rate of $4 per ton, $40. We have the 

 following charges, however, against this ten tons: 



Fifty bushels of corn, at 82 cents per bushel $16.00 



When corn is worth 40 cents at the elevator, as it now is, the 

 field value will be at least 8 cents less, or 32 cents per 

 bushel. Eight cents covers husking, board of man, feed 

 of the team, maintenance of wagon and hauling to market. 



