THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V. 217 



Prof. C. S. Plumb, late of the Indiana Experiment Station, now of the 

 Ohio State University, was one of the first men to realize that much of 

 the material going out from the packing house in the form of by-product 

 might be economically utilized as animal food. His first work was dona 

 in feeding tankage to hogs, the results showed that a proper combina- 

 tion of this food with corn effected a saving of nearly 2 cents per pound 

 in the cost of making a pound of pork. These results were a surprise not 

 only to Professor Plumb, but to Swift & Company, who furnished the 

 material ior the experiment. Visitors to the first International exposi- 

 tion were much interested in Professor Plumb's "Tankage Hogs." Iowa 

 Experiment Station was the next station to follow up this line of work. 

 A carefully conducted experiment was outlined for the purpose of com- 

 paring tankage and other packing house by-products with corn as food for 

 hogs. The results of these experiments have already been published in 

 bulletin No. 65 of the Iowa station. On page 222 the following summary 

 is made - "That a ration consisting of five parts corn and one part 

 Swift's Tankage yield over 34 per cent greater net profits than a ration 

 of corn alone." 



These experiments were a revelation to the farmers and feeders of 

 the country. The greatest problem before the feeder today is the question 

 as to where he can find the cheapest source of protein. The corn plant 

 is and must continue to be the foundation for successful feeding. Corn in 

 the Middle West supplies fat and carbohydrates in large amounts at low 

 cost, yet we find while corn contains a fair amount of protein, it is no- 

 where in proper proportion in relation to the constituents named. The 

 farmer who is feeding only corn to his steers or hogs, literally, must have 

 "corn to burn." For years it has been a difficult matter to know where 

 protein could be obtained at such cost that the farmer could afford to sell 

 some of his corn and buy a protein feed with which to properly balance 

 the remainder. The results of experiments quoted have surprised the 

 oldest practical feeders of many states and would seem to indicate that 

 the solution lies ready at hand in the large output of by-products prepared 

 In the packing house. Many men object to the use of animal foods in 

 the shape of blood meal or tankage. We do not find this objection well 

 founded in actual practice. Hogs will greedily eat all kinds of refuse 

 coming fresh from the slaughter house. Many people have objected to 

 the use cf slaughter house fed animals,, owing to the danger of disease 

 infection. Packing house foods are free from this objection. In their 

 manufacture they are subject to such a high temperature that any germs 

 which might cause trouble are destroyed. In the first place, every animal 

 which goes into the packing house has passed a careful inspection by 

 officers of the United States bureau of animal industry, so that the 

 danger of infection is reduced to a minimum. 



These foods are cheap, clean and highly concentrated. It is not nec- 

 essary to handle a large bulk in order to get the food constituents 

 required. We do not believe in tablet rations, but recommend a wise and 

 carefully planned system of feeding, by which an animal will get plenty 

 of bulky food and at the same time plenty of nutritive material. The 

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