518 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



for conducting the filling process, may be economically arranged. The 

 single silo within a circle of two or three miles is working under an 

 economic handicap. He who lives in the alfalfa districts of western 

 Iowa has less need for a silo than the one who farms in central or eastern 

 Iowa. 



3. Shall we feed specialty or commercially mixed feeds? Generally 

 speaking, our advice, based on experimental experience, is to stick tight 

 to and stay with these principal and standard feeds in cattle feeding: 

 Corn grain, corn silage, clover hay, alfalfa hay, mixed hay, soy bean hay, 

 linseed oil meal of high grade, cottonseed meal (over 38 per cent protein, 

 better 40 to 43), cereal straws (preferably oats), corn stover, corn fodder 

 and salt. Sorghum .and Sudan grass hays are in order some years. Oats 

 grain is all right in a degree v/hen it can be purchased for about 70 to 80 

 per cent of the price of corn per hundred pounds. The standard supple- 

 ments are linseed oil meal and cottonseed oil meal — the preference being 

 for the former at the same price. These supplements furnish what Iowa 

 cattle feeders need; they are standard, and have a free and open market, 

 hence are likely to represent true economic value. 



In two years' results; the specialty feeds sold under trade names, such 

 as Tarkio, Champion, Golden Rule, Alfal-Fat, CJMCO, "Alf'-Nol" feed, did 

 not prove worth the money when compared w-ith current values of stan- 

 dard farm feeds supplemented with linseed oil meal. One feed cost 

 $47.70 per ton, but it was actually worth only $27.48. Another feed cost 

 $57.40, but it was worth $14.10. Still another cost $51.10, and was worth 

 51 cents. Yet another cost $44.50, and was fed at a heavy loss — a loss 

 so great that the manufacturer would have had to pay us $60.36 a ton to 

 feed it as he directed, if we would have played even. 



We must emphasize in passing that the specialty feed manufacturers 

 entering feeds in our tests so far did not feed their feeds to the best 

 advantage. Hence some of the feeds showed up rather poorly. However, 

 the fact remains that the Iowa cattle feeder will do well to think twice — 

 yea, thrice — before investing in specialty mixed feeds to replace his corn. 



During the last two or three years it has been necessary for the feed 

 manufacturer to add approximately eight to twelve dollars' margin per ton 

 over and above the cost of the ingredients to cover cost of grinding, mix- 

 ing, overhead, administration, licenses, bags and so on. In addition, the 

 purchaser added the freight to this margin. 



With your and your neighbors' corn cribs bulging, go easy before 

 shipping in corn substitutes. However, a bargain is always a bargain, 

 and he who picks up one is fortunate. Nevertheless, it is wise to know 

 when a supposed bargain is a real bargain. 



We hope to continue this specialty feed work again soon. 



4. Shall we limit the grain ration? This is a big question, and is 

 subject to all sorts of conditions. Older cattle, like two and three and 

 four-year-olds, when fed on unlimited silage, with two to four pounds of 

 linseed or cottonseed oil meal, and a minimum of hay or straw, do very 

 well on little or no corn — say from none up to half a peck a day. For 

 winter feeding they make gains upwards of two pounds usually, and 



