FEEDS AND FEEDING. 423 



Cost of the Ration. Let us learn what it is costing 

 John Smith to feed his horses. The following are the 

 market prices of some of the feeds which are available 

 to John Smith: 



Per Ton of 2,000 Ibs. 



Oats $35 



Shelled corn 28 



Wheat bran 25 



Timothy hay 18 



Crab grass hay 15 



Cotton-seed meal 26 



Corn and cob meal 22 



Oats cost $35 per ton of 2,000 Ibs. One pound of 

 oats costs $0.0175. Then 8 Ibs. will cost 8 x .0175 = 

 $0.14. In a similar way the prices of the shelled corn, 

 wheat bran and timothy hay are calculated. 



8 Ibs. oats $0.14 



4 Ibs. shelled corn o . 056 



6 Ibs. wheat bran o . 075 



10 Ibs. timothy hay o . 090 



Total cost per ration = $0.361 



It is costing John Smith $0.361 per day per horse. 

 Or it is costing him 15 x $0.361 == $5.415 for his fif- 

 teen horses per day. We will now substitute some 

 other feeds and see if we cannot reduce John Smith's 

 feed bill. 



A Cheaper Ration. Oats, shelled corn and timothy 

 hay are the expensive feeds in this ration, considering 

 the nutrients they furnish. By perusing Table i we 

 find that cotton-seed meal contains a high percentage 

 of digestible protein. We can substitute this feed for 

 oats. Shelled corn and corn and cob meal contain 

 about the same amounts of dry matter and carbohy- 

 drates, so we will substitute corn and cob meal for the 

 shelled corn. The shelled corn is richer in protein 

 than the corn and cob meal, but we can get this ingre- 

 dient cheaper from our wheat bran. The crab grass 

 hay is of about the same nutritive value as timothy 



