FARM MANAGEMENT ON IRRIGATED FARMS 
47 
of alfalfa and potato farms in the Yakima Valley the questions 
arise whether some livestock can not be kept profitably, what kind 
to keep, and how much. 
SELECTING LIVESTOCK FOR ECONOMICAL PRODUCTION 
On farms where it is necessary to grow some soil-improvement 
crops that can be fed more profitably than they can be marketed, 
where considerable quantities of low-grade feeds result from the pro- 
duction of the main cash crops, and where cheap or idle labor exists 
during a large part of the year, the addition of sufficient livestock to 
utilize those idle or nonmarketable resources, or the greater part of 
them, is desirable 
The important cash products on crop farms in the Yakima Valley 
are alfalfa hay and potatoes. More or less damaged or low-grade 
hay and considerable aftermath remain on farms even when hay 
prices are high. In years when there is a good hay crop throughout 
the dairy sections of the State, the quantity of hay in the Yakima 
Valley that can not be disposed of at a profit is often considerable 
in individual cases. Varying quantities of cull or low-grade pota- 
toes, rutabagas, squash, and other crops occur where these crops are 
produced for the market. Farmers are justified in keeping some 
form of livestock to utilize these by-products where they occur in 
sufficient quantities. Such products are worth to the farmer just 
what he can get out of them when they become available. The feed- 
ing value represented by some of the common waste feeds on Yakima 
Valley farms is given in Table 24. The good farm manager and the 
skilled feeder will endeavor to balance livestock rations with these 
feeds as they become available. 
Table 24. — Products often available as feeds on Yakima County farms and their 
approximate replacement value to farm animals 
Feed 
Apples 
Rutabagas 
Potatoes. 
Squash . 
Skim milk. 
Farm animals 
to which feed is 
best suited 
Relished by all 
stock. 
Sheep, hogs 
cattle. 
Hogs, cattle, 
sheep. 
C attle, hogs, 
sheep, horses. 
Young animals, 
hogs, poultry. 
Replacement value of feed 
For cows: 214 pounds will 
replace 1 pound of corn 
silage. 
For pigs: 100 pounds=9 to 
15 pounds concentrates 
when fed with shorts and 
and skim milk. 
9 pounds =1 pound mixed 
grain. 2 pounds will re- 
place 1 pound of corn si- 
lage. 
4 to 5 pounds cooked, or 6 
pounds raw=l pound of 
grain, as partial substi- 
tute for grain. 
23/2 pounds squash=l pound 
good corn silage. Worth 
about the same as potatoes 
for fattening hogs. 
For hogs: 5 to 6 pounds =1 
pound grain when prop- 
erly combined with con- 
centrates. 
Remarks 
Being low in protein, apples are suc- 
cessfully fed with high-protein feeds, 
such as alfalfa, wheat bran etc. 
Preferred by sheep to all other roots 
Fed before milking may taint the milk 
of cows. 
For hogs, for best results, cook and mix 
with various farm by-products, such as 
skim milk, corn, barley waste, etc. 
Unripe potatoes and sprouts of pota- 
toes are injurious to slock. 
Corn, squash, and skim milk can be 
successfully used for fattening pigs. 
Should be consumed in a short time, 
as it does not keep. 
Most efficient proportion to feed depends 
upon weight of hogs and relatn 
Ranges from 5 parts skim milk to 1 
part grain to weanling pigs to l \ •_> parts 
to 1 part grain to hogs over 150 pounds. 
'Compiled from State Experiment Station reports and "Feeds and Feeding" by Henry and Mo 
The feeds except skim milk are fed at the rate of 25 pounds to 40 pounds per 1,000 pounds live weight. 
