250 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



the influence of food values, of cost before the fattening period, 

 and of the price received for the animals when sold. 



Tlie influence of food values is so evident that it is scarcely 

 necessary to discuss it. Other things being equal, the differ- 

 ence in returns from feeding corn at twenty cents per bushel 

 and the same at forty cents will be at once apparent. 



Some seasons the price of food varies much. One kind of 

 grain may be dear and another kind cheap. All kinds of grain 

 may be relatively dear while fodders may be cheap. Under 

 such conditions, the aim, of course, should be to feed the 

 cheaper foods as far as may be judicious in the one instance, 

 and to utilize fodders as far as may be practicable in the other. 

 Sometimes, however, it may be advantageous to feed more or 

 less of the dear food, because of the advantage which results 

 from feeding foods in balance. 



Where the conditions are normal it follows that, as a rule, 

 foods may be more cheaply grown by the farmer than pur- 

 chased, but it may, notwithstanding, be necessary to purchase 

 more or less of one or more food factors not readilv procura- 

 ble from home sources in sufficient quantities. The grower 

 may thus find it profitable to purchase wheat middlings freely, 

 notwithstanding that he may be a large grower of corn. It 

 is also generally true that fodders are relatively cheaper than 

 grains, hence the larger the amount of these that may be judi- 

 ciously fed, the larger will be the profits. In this fact is found 

 the justification for the free use of corn ensilage in feeding live 

 stock and in chaffing and mixing dry fodders with meal, in 

 order to increase the consumption of the former. 



As a rule, a pound of increase made during the finishing 

 period costs more than the food used in making it. To this 

 there are some exceptions, as when meat brings a good price 

 W'hile the foods used in making it are cheap. If, therefore, 

 profit is to be made on home raised animals fattened on the 

 farm, it must come from the two following sources, viz : the 

 growing of the animals on cheap foods up to the time when the 

 fattening begins, and the increase in value on every pound of 

 live weight possessed by the animal at that time resulting from 

 the fattening process. The profit of the feeder who buys the 

 animals which he feeds can only come, of course, from the last 

 named source. 



