376 



I1.LIN0IS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



The by-products from all of our different agricultural crops 

 must therefore be utiHzed in the feeding of farm animals. The 

 total digestible nutrients per acre contained in the grain of these 

 crops for the four-years' rotation, amounts to 4,615 pounds, 

 while the total digestible nutrients contained in the roughage of 

 these same crops is 4,978 pounds, or nearly one-tenth more. But 

 the grain farmer says cows cannot consume all of the roughage 

 because it is too bulky. This is true, but when the coarse bran of 

 the corn and wheat is removed from the portion available for 

 man, and fed to the cow, she needs to consumxC only one-third of 

 the wheat straw and one-half of the oat straw to eat half the di- 

 gestible nutrients in all these farm crops. This leaves the greater 

 part of the straw available for bedding and the absorption of the 

 liquid manure, which, if properly conserved and appHed to the 

 land, would still contain 67.5 percent as much organic matter to 

 plow under for the protection of future crops as would all of the- 

 roughage produced, had none been fed, as shown by the table 

 below. 



Roughage Available to Plow Under to Increase the Humus in the Soil, 

 Under Systems of Grain and Live Stock Farming. 



Crop. 



Animal farming where all 

 Exclusive corn stover and clover 



grain hay, one-half oat straw, 



farming and one-third wheat straw 



are fed to cows. 



Corn stover 



4000 



Wheat straw ... 



2000 



Oat straw 



1600 



Clover hay 



5000 



Total 



12600 



2700 



j 2-3 not fed 1333 



I 1-3 fed 420 



j 1-2 not fed 800 



I 1-2 fed 475 



978.^ 



8513 



67.57% 



If careful methods are used in every step, all of the fertility 

 I hat is not returned to the soil is converted into food for the sup- 

 port of man, which, under the conditions we are discussing, is 

 the ultimate aim of all agriculture. 



