Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 22, No. 1, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 1, 1912 Page: 3 of 16
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Oklahoma Farmer
Volume 22
Number 1
GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA, MAY 1, 1912.
Subscription
50 Cents a Year.
Plan Now for Next Year's Feed for Your
One of the hopeful signs of the
limes in the agricultural develop-
ment of Oklahoma is the interest and
activity on the part of many farmers
along the line of growing a great
variety of crops for feed, and produc-
ing finished animals or animal prod-
ucts at a greater net prolit. This
advancement is being made along the
line of storing and preserving rough
fodders that formerly were largely
wasted.
We tind that 40 per cent of the
feeding value of the corn crop is in
i lie leaves and stalks while 60 per cent
is in the ear. The same is true of
katir corn and milo maize. When
these crops are dry cured only 25 per
cent of the value of the fodder is
secured. So much of it is unpalatable
and woody that livestock do not care
for it.
On the other hand, if these crops
are cut when they are quite mature
and still green and succulent and stor-
ed in an airtight silo, there" is prac-
tically no waste whatever. In the
form of ensilage corn is preserved in
a succulent state making an excellent
winter forage. Corn or Kafir ensilage
is not a balanced food, but when fed
with alfalfa hay or in connection with
a grain ration rich in protein or bone
and muscle builder it will produce
either meat or milk at a very low cost.
Feeding experiments which have been
conducted both with dairy herds and
with animals being fitted for the block
have established the fact that with
the addition of good ensilage to the
ration the cost of producing milk and
meat c^in be reduced one-half.
Ensilage is generally made from
Indian corn, but cowpeas, alfalfa, clo-
ver, cane or peanuts may be used in
titling the silo, making a very rich en-
silage. In Oklahoma our leading crops
for filling the silo are kafir corn and
Milo maize. They have almost the
same feeding value as Indian corn,
are sure crops and will stay green so
much longer that it is practicable for
the same engine and crew to fill a
half dozen silos before the crop be-
comes too dry and mature.
Alfalfa may be cured as dry fodder
with little if any waste and is prac-
tically all eaten by stock. It can
therefore be mowed or stacked for
future use while our sorghum crops
can best be saved in the silo.
Silos should be built on every farm
where any considerable number of
stock are kept. It is needed in Okla-
homa about seven months of the year,
half of that time during the summer
months. Silage fed cattle have the
appearance of stock on June pasture.
It is a succulent food easily digested,
very palatable and economical. A
mature cow or fattening steer will
eat about forty pounds per day or
one cubic foot.
In planning the size of silo to build
one should make the diameter great
enough so that about two Inches may
Live Stock
This is the Advice of James A. Wilson, Director
Experiment Station, Oklahoma Agricultural College
(Written for Oklahoma Farmer.)
it so the ensilage will settle well,
making a dense body so as to exclude
the air. The walls should be heavy
enough to be perfectly rigid and air-
tight. By proper observance of the
above principles, one cannot help but
find a very successful means of stor-
ing green feed successfully, thus
cheapening the ration and increasing
the profit in raising stock.
While it is practicable to build
silos at a cost yf $2.00 per ton of
storage capacity, we tind that good
ordinary barns cost at the rate of
$5.00 to $lt£00 per ton storage capac-
ity to construct them. If a silo Is
well built and cared for afterward it
will last a lifetimes. They are almost
as durable as a barn, furnish storage
capacity at a lower cost and save 30
per cent of the feeding value of our
coarse fodders.
There Is a phase of economy in the
use of the silo that Is certain to appeal
to the people of the Southwest. In
fact, many are already using this
means of wintering over their cattle
and sheep on the ranges. Whereas
in times past the haystack has been
the dependence of the ranchman
against storms and grass famines.
The future stockmen on the ranges
' V J< -
Vj
be fed oft" the entire surface of th
I'Ody of eiisilage daily. This will keep
the air from spoiling it. The round
shape of silo is best and its height
above the ground should be about
twice the diameter. The Inside should
be as smooth as it is possible to make
:-y
Silo on Farm of C. S. Chandler, one and one-half miles Northeast
of Stillwater, Oklahoma
"We find that 40 per cent of the feeding value of the corn crop Is in the leaves
and stalks while 60 per cent is in the ear The same is true of kafir corn and
milo maize. When these crops are dry cured only 25 per I'ent of the value of the
fodder is secured. So much of it is unpalatable and woody that livestock do not
care for It. On the other hand if these crops are cut when they are quite
mature and still green and succulent and stored In an airtight silo, there is prac-
tically no waste whatever. In the form of ensilage corn is preserved in a suc-
culent state making an excellent winter forage."—James A Wilson.
will look more and more to the_ silo,
built, perhaps, well into the sidehill at
the side of the corral and his fields
of kafir and milo that have been
grown for tlie sole purpose of furnish-
ing silage for winter feeding. Many
will use it in connection with cotton
seed meal or cake for fattening their
iierds. Whether finished for the block
in this way or not, their cattle will
come thru the winter season so well
that six or eight weeks time will be
saved in the ^length of the feeding
period that steers often lose by rea-
son of the fact that they run down so
poor during the winter season.
James A. Wilson,
Director Oklahoma Agricultural i£x
periment Station, Stillwater, Oklaho
ma.
Grow Stock Beets for Cows.
The sugar beet and the stock beet
are entirely different varieties. Th*
sugar beets make very good stock
food, but for the dairy business the
stock beet is much to be preferred.
You get a third or more yield per
acre, and they are less expensive to
raise and furnish so much more suc-
culent that they are a more econo-
mical variety to use. Sugar beets
containing large percentage of sugar
are not especially a dairy food, in
asmuch as the sugar content is more
fattening than it is stimulating of
milk production. The best variety of
the JMangle Wurzel is the Golden
Tankard. You can buy it on almost
any seed market and it costs about
15 to 20 cents a pound; about 20
pounds v per acre will be sufficient.
Plant about corn planting time in fall
plowed, well tilled, fertile land in rows
about three feet apart, and cultivate
and thin out as you would ordinary
beets or turnips. You wilt- have
great satisfaction in this crop as a
supplementary feed for the dairy cat-
tle. J. A. Wilson.
Oklahoma Experiment Station.
The Never Failing Cowpea.
It does not pay to plant corn on poor
land, plant it to cowpeas. They may
be planted any time from the middle
of June to the middle of July. Set
your corn- planter to drop from one
to two peas in a place 6 to 8 inches
apart in the row. We go over a field
this way and then go back and strad-
dle the rows. If you have a wet spot
in the corn field sow cane and cow-
peas mixed about July 1 and they will
make fine feed even In a dry season.
I never heard of stock that would not
eat cowpea hay. If it should get mol-
dy do not feed it to horses as It is
apt to cause heaves. Cowpeas also
make a nice feed for brood sows, if
you think you will be short of feed
this winter put In a lot of them.
Afton, Okla. H. E. Tipton.
OUR GUARANTEE.
Readers of Oklahoma Farmer are re-
quested to read the guarantee which the
publisher of this paper makes in order to
safeguard you against unscrupulous ad
vertisers. This guarantee appears on the
editorial page. Read It carefully. Then
you will have no hesitancy In dealing
with our advertisers. You are not get
ting the full worth of the paper unless
you read all the advertisements. Many
a dollar has been saved to our readers
as a result of reading and answering the
advertisements. You cannot lose. Okla
liotna Farmer stands behind Its advertis
ers and its readers.
A Better Appearance Already.
We are reading the Farmer and
like it fine. The change of manage
ment has already wrought a better
appearance in the paper, writes Ray
C. Reynolds, of Deer Creek, Okla.
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Crowther, M. L. Oklahoma Farmer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 22, No. 1, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 1, 1912, newspaper, May 1, 1912; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc88343/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.