220 Wisconsin state agricultural society. 
does become in almost every community in the state. And right 
here I desire to say, that I wish every town would enforce the law 
against bulls running at large. It is impossible to improve the 
stock under such a condition of things. That is waste; or worse, 
it is shiftless criminality. What is true of cattle is true of almost 
every other animal in this regard. 
Upon this point of feeding I desire to introduce a witness. I 
quote from Jas. F. O. Johnston, an English ’writer(page 607), where 
he estimates that “ it will take one-fiftieth of the entire weio^ht of 
the animal to support life and to maintain its condition, and if the 
food be reduced to one-sixtieth the animal will simply exist, and at 
the expiration of from three to four months it will be starved to 
death.” 
By giving the animal one-fortieth of its weight you bring it to a 
falling condition; by the use of the one-sixtieth for food, the ani¬ 
mal, say if a steer of 1,000 pounds, will have lost in four months 
200 or 250 pounds, and will be starved to death; by the use 
of the one-fiftieth of the weight of the animal he would be simply 
kept in a condition that would not lose weight; by using the one- 
tenth more, the animal would be fattened, and, as I have tried to 
show, the addition of ten per cent, in food will add to the value of 
the steer the difference in value, as between the $3 per hundred 
and the $5 per hundred, and the extra weight added, or plainly the 
addition of one-third to the cost of starving the animal to death by 
giving him one-sixtieth of his weight, or of simply adding ten per 
cent, to the cost of keeping the animal without losing in weight, 
would amount to $30 addition in the value of the animal. What is 
true of cattle, is equally true of sheep, hogs, or horses. 
We repeat, hold what you have, and add to it all you can. Never 
go back, cost what it will. That would be waste, the other would 
be economy or utilization of what would be waste. 
How to use straw is of the utmost importance, not only to feed 
stock but that it may be made into manure. This is how I do it, 
and succeed in making from 1,000 to 1,200 loads each winter. We 
are western people, and we wish to bring this business within the 
ability of the western men to perform, and also to make a profit 
from the business. We cannot adopt the eastern method of com¬ 
posting; we have not the labor, neither can we meet the expense; 
we have an abundance of material but lack of laborers. 
