ECONOMICAL FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 37 



greater value in proportion to their greater content of protein? 

 In other words, is ghiten feed, containing approximately twice as 

 much protein as the wheat feed, worth twice as much? Prof. 

 Henry, an acknowledged authority upon feeding questions, says 

 that so far as known at the present time one source of protein is 

 as valuable as another. In my own feeding operations I have 

 acted upon this statement and years ago discontinued the feeding 

 of wdieat bran when the price went to $i6 a ton. I have since 

 bought the feed that furnished me, protein at the least cost per 

 pound, with apparent good results. This consideration, how- 

 ever, is to be noted, that cottonseed meal is not so valuable to 

 feed with timothy hay as with corn silage, owing to its dietetic 

 effect ; of linseed meal the reverse is true. Hence linseed meal is 

 better than cottonseed to feed with timothy, cottonseed better 

 to feed with silage. Another factor enters here also. Some 

 animals do not like one meal as well as another and the careful 

 feeder will consider the likes of his animals. But as to the ques- 

 tion of cost, note that your wheat feeds, containing 240 pounds 

 of protein per ton, when costing you $24 per ton make each 

 pound of protein cost ten cents. Cottonseed meal at $35 per 

 ton makes it cost less than 5 cents per pound. Now that you 

 may understand how to determine the relative values of any 

 feeds, bear in mind that your State laws require the labelling 

 of every sack of feed sold in the State with a statement of the 

 per cent of protein and the per cent of fat. For your purpose 

 you need consider for the present only the per cent of protein. 

 This means the number of pounds of protein in each hundred ; 

 that is, cottonseed meal containing 42 per cent of protein con- 

 tains 42 pounds of protein in each hundred pounds. So with 

 other feeds. Now to find what each pound of protein costs, 

 divide the price per ton by the number of pounds of protein in 

 each ton. That will give the cost for each pound of protein. 



Here another factor must be noted. I have already called 

 attention to the fact that the hays contain a relatively large 

 amount of crude fiber, which is indigestible, hence worthless as 

 food material. In any commercial feeding stuff having a small 

 per cent of protein and fat, there is necessarily a relatively 

 large amount of crude fiber or worthless material ; hence a cot- 

 tonseed meal containing 21 per cent of protein is not worth 



