20 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



rough, stony, or semi-arid land unsuited for the plow may be grazed, 

 unmarketable soft corn may be fed, and other similar wastes may be 

 converted into profits where live stock is kept. 



Live stock and soil fertility.-r^'The maintenance of soil fertility is 

 more difficult under the grain-farming system. Although it has been 

 experimentally demonstrated that fertility may be maintained and in- 

 creased by the use of commerical fertilizers and green manures with- 

 out the aid of live stock, nevertheless the keeping of live stock and the 

 utilization of farm manure afford the easiest method of maintaining 

 and increasing the fertility of the soil. Where farming has been prac- 

 ticed for a long period of time, the most fertile and prosperous com- 

 munities are those in which much live stock has been kept and the 

 manure properly handled and applied to the soil. 





:ar 



W^' 



Fig. 1. — Rough, stony, or semi-arid land unsuited to the plow may be utilized 

 as pasture. 



A comparison of crop yields during five years on ten beef cattle 

 farms in ten counties in Iowa, and on ten grain farms in the same 

 neighborhoods, showed that the cattle farms averaged 14 bushels 

 more corn per acre, 7 bushels more oats, and 1 ton more hay. 



Value of farm manures. — Experiments indicate that if animals 

 were kept in stalls or pens throughout the year and the manure care- 

 fully saved, the approximate value of the manure produced by each 

 horse or mule would be $27, by each head of cattle $20, by each hog 

 $4, and by each sheep $2. The total fertilizing value of the manure 

 produced in the United States in one year would, therefore, be 

 $2,112,847,000. In this estimate, no account is taken of the value of 

 the manure for improving the mechanical condition and drainage of 



