The Oklahoma Farmer-Stockman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 35, No. 23, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 10, 1922 Page: 4 of 36
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
(
TT752T
THE OKLAHOMA F ARMER-STOCKM AN
December 10 1922
Feed the Cows to Keep Up the Milk Yield
LAST summer with plenty of good
pasture we reduced our feeding to
practically nothing just a little
mixed feed to get the -cows into
the stanchions and held our production
up in good shape But when the pastures
dried up after our hot winds and the
water became scare and of a poor qual-
ity the milk fiow began falling off
But on account of a poor market
caused by the people not having the
money to buy dairy products we did not
increase our feed as soon as we should
have done Let me caution you right
here don’t delay this increase because
it is easier to- hold than to rebuild or
build up production
With the fall weather coming on and
a greater demand for sweet cream we
were not able to take care of our busi-
ness The cows were apparently not'
paying for their feed at least part of
them were not Here lies an important
question and this question comes up in
every barn where milk stock is handled
“How can I afford to feed Old June more
feed when she is not paying for her feed
how?” In a great many cases you don’t
have nerve enough to give Old June just
a little more feed to see what she will do
when the fact of the matter is you are
just giving her that portion which is
necessary to maintain the body You are
not giving her enough to give you any
milk for the body comes first and na-
ture demands that the first feed go to
the body of the animal
Just a little more feed would come
out in the milk pail and begin to make
a profit Where a cow has been break-
ing even or perhaps not paying for her
feed if you will go to the trouble of
weighing your milk and feed you will
6oon see where you have been making
your mistake and I will venture to say
that many a good dairy cow goes to the
butcher when she is just at this point
If your old car is trying to make a
hill and gets almost to the top and you
see she is not going over what do you do ?
Give her a little more gas of course
Why don’t you try this same plan on your
cows? You are fussing at her calling
her no-account when she is just where
your car was when you gave it a little
more gas If you give her enough feed
to make the hill she will then begin to
It Is Easier to Hold Up the Flow Than to Get It
Back After It's Gone
W G Stevens
make you a profit To prove these as-
sertions I herewith list the records of
five cows picked at random of different
ages and in different stages of their lac-
tation periods The table shows how they
were fed the expense of feed the prod-
uct and selling price and the milk yield
after the extra feed was given
First let me explain that we furnish
almost exclusively sweet cream From
many tests by -first weighing the milk
and then measuring the cream our whcle
milk converted into sweet cream nets us
about 43 cents per gallon and leaves
us the skim milk
Prices which we paid during the test
were: Mixed feed per hundredweight
$135 corn chop per hundredweight
$140 cottonseed meal per hundredweight
$3 The same amount of alfalfa hay
was being fed before we started the test
as was fed during the test so no men-
tion is made of the hay
' We are unfortunate that we do not
have a silo but permit me to make a
little notation at this point" When corn
fodder was fed almost every animal
gained one pound of milk per day This
is indeed one argument in favor of the
silo because if these cows would gain
one pound of milk per day on dry corn
fodder what would they do on silage
besides cutting down the amcftmt of grain
that you would have to feed to get the
same results
However we find that corn fodder
Sudan grass or cane hay will increase
tbe production every time and Is bet-
ter to help balance the ration if you have
no silo'
Another thing: Please bear in mind
these cows are not at their height of pro-
duction as these figures were tabulated
only 12 days after increasing the feed
Now to go further and make the table
a little plainer We will take cow No 1
It was costing to feed her 6J4 cents per
day in grain Her product was selling
for 46 cents per day We increased her
grain to 14 cents a day and her product
brought us 65 cents per day In other
words she -paid for the extra feed and
brought in 1914 cents more per day than
she was a matter of $6 per month
In addition she is bound to be in bet-
ter shape when she is turned on win-
ter pasture or given plenty of roughage
which she is not receiving now to con-
vert that extra pasture or roughage into
milk Furthermore the more you feed
the more manure you get and we con-
sider this an asset oil Sunny Knob Farm
Cow No 2 is to freshen in about two
months and we are only carrying her in
the milking herd on account of shortage
of production but she is paying for her
extra feed and is bringing in $1 more on
the month than she was before
Cow No 6 you will note lias made but
little gain This is accounted for by her
poor physical condition which shows that
nature is going to build up her body
before she increases much in milk Cow
No 1 was in good physical condition and
responded to the extra feed at once
If the feeding question may arise with
some of you' being in a locality where
mill feed is high grind some oats and
corn equal parts and add one-half pound
or one pound would be better of cotton-
seed meal to each four pounds of mix-
ture of oats and corn and if you have
milk cows they will respond and make
you a profit on most any dairy product
you want to sell and give you more for
your oats and corn than you can mar-
ket them for and leave the manure on
the farm Let the boys try out an ex- '
periment like this You will be surprised
and they will get interested And always
remember one fact Nobody ever made
any money on any kind of livestock or
poultry by not feeding it
Here’s One Way to Stay Poor All Your Life
HERE’S a certain way to be poor
for life I guarantee it to work
So far it has never failed
“Go in debt for money Give
a chattel mortgage on all you own and
expect to make Take the money and buy
food and feed you ought to grow instead
Pay high interest rates to the money
lender and stay poor”
There are other ways to stay poor But
for the farmer this is the easiest I be-
lieve It has the further advantage of
adding misery to poverty It will dry up
hopes blight ambition and make cow-
ards of honest men
The chattel mortgage I’ve felt was
invented by the devil to bring misery to
men It works with deadly effect While
a few men seem happy in debt the man
with a mortgage is usually an unhappy
man
“I want to get a little money to buy
some groceries and feed to make a crop
on” is the way the spring borrower asks
for money
What he actually means:' “I want to
give you a chattel mortgage on my out-
fit and the crop I’ve planted I want to
surrender my right to sell my crop when
and where I think best I want to tie
myself up so I can’t sell anything I have
or leave the county unless you allow me
and I want to pay you high rates for a
little of your money”
Deny that if you can That’s just what
making a mortgage is Don’t you like
it? I don’t not a little bit'
“What’s wrong with farming?” is now
a common question There are many
things wrong This is one of them this
thing of the habit of debt It is a habit
that can be avoided It ought to be
avoided with dread
The farmer is independent I Where is
the independence of the man tied up with
a chattel mortgage on everything he
owns and expects to grow? He is any-
thing but independent
The man with a crop mortgage can’t '
Keep Yourself Tied by a Chattel Mortgage And
Buy Everything on Credit
Clarence Roberts
sell his crops when and where he thinks
best He sells when ‘ and where the
money lender thinks best — and' tells
him to
Many a member of the Cotton Growers’
Association wanted to market through
that organization But the money lend-
ers said : “Sell that cotton at the gin
when you gin it and bring me the check
I want the money”
The man in debt generally does as he
is told — by the man he owes when that
For the Young Men to Think About
TO THE thousands of young men in Oklahoma who will soon start farm-
ing for themselves I give this thought :
You are yet at home living with dad In a year or two you expect
to start out for yourself as a renter on a farm in the neighborhood That
start is most important You can start in debt or out of debt Which?
You can dig in smile wear your patches and get a lot of fun out of life
when you are fighting along to stay out of debt It’s different with most men
when struggling to pay debts It isn’t any fun to get money to turn over to
the other fellow
Going in debt is all right for the man with judgment and experience
enough to take the money so raised and invest it in something he can later’
sell at a profit It takes the older farmer usually to do that Maybe the
young farmer has' the ability But like learning to swim it is best not to
jump out in deep water and take the consequences
The farmer boy at home with his dad has the chance to build him up a
farming outfit gradually A colt this fall another next spring two or three
heifer calves a small bunch of purebred chickens and a real bargain occa-
sionally in farm machinery at some sale will in two or three years put a
boy in possession of a farming outfit all paid for
By growing a crop of feed the year before he breaks away for himself
the young farmer can start on a cash basis If he has four or more milk cows
a good bunch of chickens and maybe a brood sow he can stand a dry year
or a hail the first year Therers safety and I think
plan — C R
man holds a chattel mortgage on the
debtor’s goods
Who is to blame? The money lender?
No the man who borrows
The man who borrows money must
first ask for it No ones forces him to
borrow He makes an obligation He
gets money belonging to someone else
He is obligated to pay it back He should
pay it back
The simple remedy is not to borrow in
the first place
Yet the man who grows only crops to
be sold in the fall will find himself in
need of cash in the spring 'Cash-crop
farming and chattel mortgages go hand
in hand They are hard to separate An-
other system of farming is the best solu-
tion the easy solution almost the only
solution
The chief value of a brood sow a few
cows and some chickens is that they keep
a man out of debt They bring in some
money every month to keep the family
and farm running It isn’t necessary to
borrow money “to live on”
The day of peace and plenty on the
farms will be delayed just as long as the
chattel mortgage is Used to secure money
to buy’ the' things which the farmer
might grow— can grow— -ought to grow
As long as farmers mortgage their
crops those same crops will be forced on
the market in the-fall The price may
be high it may be low The market
may be hungry it may be glutted It’s
all the same Those crop3 must be sold
and sold they are into the hands of spec-
ulators How can we ever have "orderly mar-
keting” under such conditions? The chat-
tel mortgage and forced ' marketing
usually it lo prices go hand in hand
A “get out and keep out” club is badly -needed
With the habit of debt broken
the farm living raised for everything that
lives on the farm and a few extra prod-
ucts to sell every week I see prosperity
ahead Not before ' :
A
'X
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Williams, Carl C. The Oklahoma Farmer-Stockman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 35, No. 23, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 10, 1922, newspaper, December 10, 1922; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2046783/m1/4/: accessed June 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.