CHAPTER XVIII 



THE VALUATION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



It seems to be veiy generally supposed that it is 

 possible to state fixed relative money values for feed- 

 ing stuffs, and that by comparing these with market 

 prices the relation of value to cost may be ascertained. 

 Such a state of knowledge is certainly much to be de- 

 sired, for it would be of great practical use to feeders. 

 For various reasons, however, it is not yet attained, 

 and there is little present prospect that it will be. 

 The establishment of such relative values for cattle 

 foods, as a whole and for general use, is a much more 

 complex matter than many suppose it to be, for it 

 touches on one side some of the most profound prob- 

 lems of physiological chemistry, concerning which we 

 have only partial knowledge. 



The problem of assigning values to the classes of 

 nutrients in feeding stuffs may be approached from 

 two directions; viz., from the commercial side and 

 from the physiological side. In the first case, the 

 effort would be to calculate on the basis of the prices 

 of standard commercial feeds, what is the actual pound 

 cost of each of the classes of nutrients, and thus have 

 a means of ascertaining whether a particular feed is 

 selling for less or more than the existing market con- 



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