Vol. LXVIII No. 4021. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 20, 1909. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE IOWA FARM SITUATION. 
Changing Production From Stock to Grain. 
A transition is now going on in Iowa farming. 
When first settled, as the Dakotas and Canadas are 
now being settled, all ground was grained, and stock 
business little thought of, or practiced only in ranging 
cattle on wild grasses. All lands were “corned’’ after 
one or two crops of wheat for from 10 to 15 years. 
The soil finally showed signs of giving out, and then 
it went to “grass.” This brought in the live stock 
industry on a large scale. For 15 to 20 years the 
production of hogs and corn has been something 
enormous Farms of 120, 160 or 320 acres went into 
mixed farming, in which live stock has played the most 
important part. When “corning” the prairies straight 
in corn crops the land 
value ran from settle¬ 
ment prices, $10 to $12 
per acre, up to $25 to 
$35 per acre, where it 
hung for several years, 
until the live stock in¬ 
dustry got into full 
swing. Many farms be¬ 
come veritable feeding 
.stations, and “feeders” 
operating in feeding cat¬ 
tle use from 60 to 300 
head on tracts of land 
here, grazing in Summer 
and in Fall putting on 
full feed of corn. By 
that time shotes raised 
on farm run up to 150 
pounds in weight; these 
follow cattle, eat up waste 
around the troughs out 
of which cattle feed, and 
eat the undigested drop¬ 
pings. Two hogs to a 
steer do this service, and 
it is counted that the 
finishing of hogs is clear 
gain, as they follow 
steers, hogs’ weight run¬ 
ning to 300 pounds. This 
leads to pretty wasteful 
feeding, as it seems, but 
after all, closely guarded 
(experiments show that 
the hogs get about all 
the waste. Hogs with 
(the farm poultry that 
western farm wives 
raise in large flocks 
make a good clean-up. 
It has been common to 
see 50 to 300 steers per farm with hog accompaniment, 
using thousands of bushels of corn. Early in the 
season they are on grass, and later finished with a 
heavy corn ration with little hay in close lots. Many 
quit corn farming and just devoted their farms to 
the “game” of feeding steers; let all ground go into 
grass and bought their corn. Some farms bought 
corn as largely as some station elevators, and with 
grazing herds the enormous quantities of manure pro¬ 
duced on these farms made them twice as fertile as 
when original prairie. With this business great pack¬ 
ing centers sprang up; immense shipping has been in 
progress to them, and country stations make up 10 to 
30 cars per week, often several trainloads a week, 
going to these packing centers, Chicago, Omaha, 
Kansas City, St. Louis, Sioux City and Denver. Meat 
trade has now got into the hands of a trust, and 
feeders and producers have been skinned and squeezed. 
These associated concerns have cut the farmer hard 
on this meat business, and skinned producers out of 
profits. 
Lately a new factor has arisen. Rough feed formerly 
as hay was worth $3 to $7 per ton. It has risen in 
price in the West to $8 to $10 per ton; this is right on 
farms among farmers. The last three years the main 
feed on which all this stock industry rests—corn—has 
gone up in price from 22 cents per bushel to 45 and 
65 cents, even 70 cents in past three years. Hogs have 
followed up in price some, but not enough to make 
hog production as attractive as it formerly was when 
corn was 25 cents per bushel. Hogs now are $7.25 
per 100. Cattle have not followed upward in price in 
proportion, and the great cattle-growing and hog- 
producing activity has been brought under a sort of 
paralysis, and is gradually being cut out. Great pas¬ 
tures and hay lands are being put into corn, stock is 
dumped on the great markets, and farmers are going 
back to growing corn on a grand scale. It was com¬ 
mon to see pastures of 100 to 300 acres filled with 
cattle; now such great tracts are in immense corn¬ 
fields. These heavily grazed lands produce now won¬ 
derful crops of corn. New cribs are going up, it is 
being stored, and farmers are going into corn, dump¬ 
ing live stock, and have dumped it for three years 
since corn has got up too high to feed to cattle at 
present Chicago or Omaha prices and inducements. 
Under good feeding operations a steer will gain, if 
high class, 2 }/ 2 pounds per day. Tt takes half a bushel 
of corn to make it. This is worth at present prices 
25 to 30 cents, and the market price on average will 
be around $5.50 to $6.50 per 100. In this one would 
only get 15 cents in meat for 25 to 30 cents worth of 
corn. Such figures show a loss to the producer. 
If one feeds 60 cents per bushel corn to hogs bring¬ 
ing $6.50 to $7 per 100 he will about break even mak¬ 
ing pork. So there is nothing in feeding hogs or 
cattle, and people have simply quit. They are getting 
interested in grain growing, and will grow it and not 
fool any time away on stock at present prices for 
grain. Anyone can give all the advice he wants to, 
but these are the-facts and conditions; packers and 
meat men have squeezed us long and hard, and they 
have grown immensely rich in the meat trade, but 
unless they get hogs up to 10 to 12 cents per pound 
live weight mighty few hogs will be developed in this 
corn country in the Central West. And to produce 
corn-fed beef the prices must go up to 10 to 12 cents 
per pound live weight with present prices of corn. 
Fligh-priced meat is a 
thing in sight and low- 
priced meats are things 
of the past. 
Now this going back 
to corn growing on a 
large scale makes lots of 
fodders and roughage. 
No stock has been re¬ 
tained to use it up, and 
many are turning into 
feeding sheep. It is done 
this way. Many thou¬ 
sands of sheep find their 
way to Omaha from the 
mountain States, Mon¬ 
tana, Colorado and Ida¬ 
ho, the high dry range 
country. These sheep 
are healthy, desirable to 
feed on short feed from 
September to January 
here in corn sections. 
Farmers go to these 
stock yards and buy one, 
two, three, to five car¬ 
loads of these sheep in 
September or October, 
or as early as August. 
They use 500, 1,000, or 
3,000 head; turn them 
loose in these cornfields 
after last corn plowing, 
and they graze in the 
corn, on the after 
growth of weeds and 
lower corn blades. Most 
farmers just before 
plowing the corn last 
time sow rape in the 
corn, and this comes up 
after plowing the last 
time; it makes good grazing with other undergrowth. 
Near holidays sheep are given some grain, bran and 
oil meal, and finished. The rule is that not so very 
much graining is needed, as after they are in corn 
two months they will begin to eat some corn, or what 
is blown down. For this purpose of pasturing corn 
Spring lambs are considered best and preferred. In¬ 
stances are on record here of gains on sheep that will 
make such lamb feeding a good proposition, and they 
yield a net profit of $7 per acre, but this is high profit. 
At times, if sheep break in price, there is no profit, and 
occasionally a little loss, but the feed in question is 
so cheap, and nearly all waste, that the losses are 
slight, as there is no other way to make use of such 
feed. This year feeding sheep cost laid down on 
Iowa farms $7.25 to $7.75 per 100, and the outlook is 
doubtful of much profit; yet if they will go on market 
a cent in advance this is all needed to make good, as 
THE TRUE “DUAL PURPOSE” COW. Fig. 543. 
