CHAPTER X 

 RELATIVE VALUE OF FEEDING STUFFS 



WE have seen that the relative cost of feeding stuffs is a matter 

 of the greatest importance to the farmer. If he has to buy feeds for 

 his stock in order to supplement the farm-grown crops, as nearly all 

 farmers have to do, he must give due regard to getting the most for 

 his money in actual feeding value. He should be in position, there- 

 fore, to ascertain the relative feeding value of the available feeds 

 according to the best information at hand. 



The relative value of feeding stuffs may be measured in several 

 ways: According to (a) the market prices of the feeds; (&) their 

 contents of digestible nutrients; (c) their energy values, and (d) 

 the feed units which they furnish. '' 



Considering first the market values of feeds, it is well known that 

 these are subject to great variations and are influenced by a number 

 of factors which do not necessarily bear on the intrinsic feeding 

 value of the feeds. To illustrate, alfalfa is as valuable a feed in 

 the western States, where it may be bought at $8 a ton or less at 

 times, as in the eastern or central States, where it generally com- 

 mands more than twice this price; again, cotton-seed meal and 

 cake are worth as much to the southern farmer as to the Pacific 

 coast feeder or the European dairyman. But these latter have to 

 pay nearly twice as much for it as the former. 



The question of cost of transportation is evidently of paramount 

 importance in determining the market price of a feed; another 

 factor is the reputation of a particular feed, which greatly influences 

 the demand for it. The relative prices of cotton-seed meal and 

 linseed meal well illustrate this fact. In many sections of the 

 country the former furnishes considerably more protein at the same 

 cost as the latter, and is fully as good a feed for most purposes, 

 and still does not find as ready sale as linseed meal. The market 

 prices of feed are often not a reliable guide to their intrinsic value, 

 and they also fluctuate greatly in different places and in different 

 years; hence any attempt to gauge the value of feeds according to 

 their cost is bound to prove unsuccessful. Several authors and 

 the writer among them have calculated the commercial values of 

 protein, fat, and carbohydrates in concentrated feeding stuffs from 

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