lht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1287 
B 
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t Stock to Eat th 
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o r n 
Can you advise me as to what effect an early frost 
iii the corn belt would have on the live stock prices this 
Fall and next Spring? My situation is as follows: I 
raise grapes and canning crops, keep no dairy at all, 
but have 10 acres of good hard corn. I expected to 
put it in silo, buy feeding steers this Fall to feed this 
silage, roughage and hay that I have. I do not expect 
that there would be any particular profit in these steers 
over and above the value of the feed, but would have the 
manure for my work. That was the way I figured when 
I planted this corn. Present indications are that this 
corn will mature in good shape, and I am wondering if 
it would not pay me to pick the corn, run the stalks 
into the silo, buy heifers or dry cows coming fresh in 
the Spring to work this fodder into manure, and sell 
at least a part of this corn. 
It would seem to me that if there was considerable 
soft corn in the corn belt, steers would be used to dis¬ 
pose of it; consequently they would be high this Fall 
and fat cattle cheap next Spring. Also, if corn should 
be a failure in the corn belt, my corn would be worth 
real money, and as this has been the worst season in 
this section in years, I can stand a little profit on 
something. Grapes, our big fruit crop, are at least four 
weeks late, and tomatoes, our big canning crop, are 
beef cattle. In the extreme western territory or 
range district, where the bulk of the feeders are pro¬ 
duced. pasture conditions have been unfavorable, 
and rangers have been forced to invade new feeding 
territories at a greatly advanced season. However, 
at such market centers as Kansas City, Chicago and 
Buffalo the price of good feeding steers, particularly 
yearlings and two-year-olds, has been comparative¬ 
ly steady, and in the opinion of buyers, correspond¬ 
ingly high. 
DAIRY CATTLE SUGGESTED.—Getting down 
to a solution of G. B. T.s problem, it seems to me 
that the corn crop should be harvested in case it 
shows evidence of maturing, and the stalks put 
through a silage machine and into the silo. Rather 
than purchase beef steers at their present levels it 
would be more desirable to purchase dairy cattle, 
on the farm and fed this soft corn found their way 
to market during the month of September, prema¬ 
turely. They were thin, poorly grown, and literally 
forced on the market, due to the fact that corn was 
selling locally for upwards of $1 a bushel. If there 
ever was a time when the corn belt farmer should 
keep Ids beef cattle and hogs on the farm and use 
them as agencies for converting soft corn into beef 
and pork, it is now. This all would indicate that 
the price of beef cattle and hogs in the Spring will 
be very attractive, and necessarily this condition 
would exist if early frost visited corn belt terri¬ 
tory during September. 
PRICES AND PROSPECTS.—The present prices 
for coarse grains have a wide daily fluctuation. Cash 
corn has dropped 25 cents per bushel within the last 
30 days. Many believe that the shortage in the 
This shoics the dairy calf club of New Boston, N. H . as they (lathered at the Farmers' and Home Makers' Week at the University of New Hampshire, at Durham. 
practically a total failure; acres and. acres of them 
that will hardly pay for the plants and fertilizer. 
New York. G. B. t. 
NCERTAIN PROSPECTS—There is a great 
deal of anxiety in corn belt territory regard¬ 
ing the present status of the corn crop. The sea¬ 
son is more than three weeks late, and a killing 
frost at this time would mean a great deal of soft 
corn. Again, the price of corn as established in the 
trading centers is clearly out of range as far as 
client prices and oat prices are concerned. Either 
wheat and oats are too low and corn is too high, if 
we are to base our price standards upon the aver¬ 
age relationship of these commodities. In eastern ter¬ 
ritory unusual pasturage conditions have made avali- 
able a great deal of green succulent feed, and dairy¬ 
men have been prone to purchase ingredients or 
mixed feeds at the prevailing prices. The mix-up, so 
to speak, in marketing channels, and the recent in¬ 
crease in the price of milk, have also served to dis¬ 
turb the equilibrium of prices as they apply to dairy 
products. At best, which means a very late frost, 
corn belt corn growers must be content with a re¬ 
duced yield of marketable corn. Soft corn can be 
safely fed to beef cattle and hogs during the early 
portion of the Fall season, but once it is frozen new 
complications arise, and its feeding value is very 
greatly reduced, especially as a source of feed for 
either dry cows that would freshen in the Spring 
or heifers that are bred for their first calves, so 
that they will be available for the dairy farmers 
when they ordinarily purchase fresh cows, and use 
these animals to use up the rough feed. As a mat¬ 
ter of fact, in a great many sections there is no 
regular outlet for beef cattle, and if you undertook 
to feed steers it would mean that you would not 
only have to feed all of the roughage available to 
these animals, but they would have to be finished 
on grain. Beef cattle that have been warmed up 
with silage and roughage and coarse hay are not in 
demand by buyers of choice beef. Furthermore, the 
dairy cattle would do very well under these condi¬ 
tions, and while it might be necessary to include 
some grain in their daily rations, the amount could 
be very greatly restricted. It is evident from this 
angle that you would stand a much better chance 
of getting a new dollar for an old one in the trans¬ 
action, and furthermore, you would have the corn 
crop to sell in case conditions such as you have out¬ 
lined develop. 
A HOG SHORTAGE.—There is another situation 
that is a determining factor. Throughout corn belt 
territory there is an estimated shortage of 25 per 
cent of breeding and market hogs. To add to this 
shortage it has been estimated that fully 15 or 20 
per cent of hogs that ordinarily would be maintained 
crop, as well as the lateness of the crop, has been 
more than discounted by present market prices. Yet 
the farmers, on the other hand, are firm in their be¬ 
lief that the season is later than it has ever been 
known to be in corn belt territory and that even a 
late frost cannot save the crop and insure them an 
average yield. So, in view of existing conditions, I 
am sure that the purchase of dairy heifers or dairy 
cows would be safer and far more profitable in this 
instance than would be any attempt to buy steers 
and feed them out for the New York markets. You 
have sized up the situation in a nutshell when you 
state there ought to be a silver lining in the agricul¬ 
tural clouds that have hovered over your territory 
and restricted the income that ordinarily would come 
from your grapes and tomatoes. Diversification of 
crops and the introduction of more live stock such 
as you have planned is a step that could be wisely 
taken by more farm folks. f. c. m. 
Here is the Veteran Binder 
W HEN Grandfather Hart purchased his binder 
40 years ago, farmers throughout Southern 
Ashtabula County, Ohio, turned out to see this re¬ 
markable machine as it drove down the field of 
waving grain never missing a bundle. This binder 
owned by Jones Brothers, of Ashtabula County, 
