The Bulletin. 



PURCHASING FEEDS. 



The selection of the proper feeds for different animals is a much more 

 important matter than it is usually considered by the average purchaser 

 and should receive careful attention. The high prices of feeds have cre- 

 ated a market for a variety of low grade feeds that otherwise would not 

 have found a mai-ket. Such feeds frequently sell for a comparatively 

 low price, hut it is seldom economical to buy them. The number of dif- 

 ferent feeds now offered for sale in the State affords the purchaser a 

 wide range of products from which to select. The purchaser should 

 first ascertain if the feeds he is considering buying are unadulterated 

 and come up to the guarantees which are claimed for them. When this 

 is done the selection of a feed should be governed by the relative cost 

 of the different available feeds and by their palatability and nutritive 

 values. 



The average composition of the various products used for feeds will 

 be found under the description of the different products. The analyses 

 of the different brands will be found in the tables compared with the 

 guarantees which the manufacturers make for them. The chemical 

 analysis shows the total amounts of the various nutrients ; not all of the 

 total amounts shown by such analyses are digestible and the purchaser 

 should inform himself as to the relative digestibility of the different 

 feeds. While it is not within the range of this bulletin to give a discus- 

 sion on the feeding of animals the following table of digestion co-efE- 

 cients is given so that the purchaser may get a general idea of the 

 digestibility of the feeds usually found on the markets. 



By co-efficient of digestion is meant the percentage of a given nutri- 

 ent that is digestible. This is determined by actual feeding experiments 

 with animals. The co-efficients in the following table were obtained by 

 digestion exjieriments with ruminants. 



DIGESTION CO-EFFICIENTS FOR COMMERCIAL FEEDS.* 



Linseed meal (oil meal) 



Cotton-seed meal 



Gluten feed 



Dried distillers' grains 



Corn meal 



Hominy feed 



Oats, whole 



Wheat bran . ^ 



Wheat middlings 



Rye feed 



Corn and oat feeds, low grade 



Molasses beet pulp 



Molasses feed 



*Ljndsey, Mass. Expt. 18th Rept 



