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742 (2)• • %/THE FARMERS’ REVIEWThe New Round Barn and Annex on the Illinois Agricultural 'College Farm,ik T THE time of the meeting of the Illinois State Association of County Agriculturists at : Urbana, one whole afternoon’s program wasdevoted to an inspection of the dairy farm and crop experiment fields at the State University.Experiments demonstrating the practicability of more* intense farming, of greater food production on smaller areas, are of the utmost importance under present conditions. With this ifi mind, Prof. W.iJ. Fraser has been conducting experiments with a herd of grade Holstein cows, fed and supported entirely from the products of a twenty-acre field. Eleven head have been kept under conditions that are applicable to average farm conditions in this state, such as any farmer with a small acreage of land may follow.We are now facing a condition; as shown by the government reports, where, apparently, we are not producing enough food in the United States to feed our own people. Great quantities of meats, grains and vegetables are being imported from foreign countries for consumption. Something is decidedly wrong with our system of agriculture, as generally practiced, that this condition should exist. We should not only produce enough food crops to supply our own people, but there should be a surplus for export, for many years to come.The problem is one that can only he solved by a more intensive system of farming that will result in largely increased average yields per acre. This means that the labor now employed should he expended on a smaller acreage or the employment of more labor on the present acreage.'•yThere is a scarcity of labor in the country and hundreds of thousands idle in the cities, due to the more rapid increase in urban population and to an actual decrease in rural population in many sections. This country is out of balance In its relative numbers of producers and consumers of food products. Some means must be found to get more people on to the land and thereby get more out of the land.There is going to be an increasing demand for small farms. The time is close at hand, if not already here, when thousands of people in the towns and cities will be seeking to rent an acre or more of ground for vegetable gardening in order to earn a living. More food can be produced from an acre of vegetables than it is possible to get from an acre of grain, and it is not uncommon in Europe to produce from $500 to $1,000 worth of vegetables on an acre by very heavy fertilization and double cropping.It Is possible for the farmers of Illinois to largely increase their average yields under present conditions if they will make and return to the soil ail the manure possible, plow under closer once in every three or four years and supply lime and rock phosphate when needed.Since getting larger yields from smaller areas is going to be the most profitable method of farming in the future, it follows that the work of the Experiment Station along intensive lines will be of much value to the farmers of this state.Professor Fraser has published no records of the results obtained from this twenty-acre field where all the products of the land have been convertedinto milk, and the figures here given are in advance of general publication.This field has been cropped as near as possible one-half in alfalfa and one-half in corn, the latter being converted into silage. The average yield for the seven-year period has been tons of alfalfa and 11% tons of silage to the acre per year. In rotating the crops, alfalfa is sown on the com ground in the spring with a light seeding of barley, which is removed for hay.The average yield of milk per acre for the seven-year period has been 3,800 pounds per year. What was obtained for the milk is not known, but assuming that it was $1.50 per hundred weight, the gross income per acre would be $57, or a total of $1,140 per year from twenty acres. The yield of butter fat per acre was 146 pounds.There iB no system of grain fatming, as now practiced, where any such returns, per. acre, for an equal period, can be realized by grain selling.This experiment shows that one man can earn a comfortable living from twenty acres of land, supporting eleven dairy cows, with comparatively little expense, and that may be offset by extra earnings.The cows on this twenty-acre tract have the run of the basement of a round barn and the adjoining yard. There is a silo in the center of the barn and around its base are feed racks and stanchions where the cows are secured only at milking time. The calves are taken from their dams when one or two days old and transferred to another bam and raised on feed produced on other land. The manure is hauled directly to the field from the cow barn, thus returning practically all the plant food that was taken off in the crops removed, except that in the milk.The Agricultural College has three round barns on the south farm. The new one, built about a year ago, is 70 feet in diameter and has an-annex on one side.There is a concrete silo in the center, 16 by 68 feet, with feed racks and stanchions around its base for 40 cows. In the annex adjoining, professor Fraser is conducting some feeding experiments with Holstein yearling heifers to determine the effect of different rations upon growth and future milk production.At the beginning of the experiment the heifers were of uniform size and weight and divided into lots. One lot. was fed a wide ration, 1 to 11.3; another on a medium ration of 1 to 6.8, and a third lot on a narrow ration of 1 to 3.85. There were, in fact, two lots fed on the narrow ration. One was given a limited amount of feed and the other was given all they would eat. The result, so far as growth was concerned, was a much. larger gain for the lot fed all they would eat, which was to be expected. The effect, however, of limited and unlimited feeding upon the future milkingqualities of these heifers is the factor to he determined.On the south farm many experiments are being, conducted to develop more intensive systems of crop production and better varieties of grain and forage plants. A large number of sweet clover plants for the study of individual characteristics are grown in plots, with the view of selecting or developing more profitable varieties.
Newspaper Details
Chicago Farmers Review
Chicago, Illinois, US
Sat, Aug 22, 1914
Page 2
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MD, USA 22 Jul 2020
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