REQUEST BY INDIVIDUALS FOR THE ANALYSIS 

 OF FEEDINGSTUFFS 



The feedingstuff law requires the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 to analyze only samples of registered feedingstuffs drawn under the direc- 

 tion of the Feed Control Supervisor. It does, each year, however, analyze 

 a considerable number of samples drawn by individuals representing stock 

 purchased by them for their own use. Frequently, the reason for request- 

 ing an analysis is that the feed is suspected of causing sickness or death 

 of livestock or poultry. While in very rare instances the feed may have 

 caused the trouble, disease is usually found to be the cause. Often feeders, 

 suspecting the feed, lose valuable time in the treatment of the disease by 

 sending a sample of the feed for analysis and waiting for the report. Losses 

 could have been reduced had a veterinarian or poultry specialist been con- 

 sulted immediately and proper treatment given promptly. The most con- 

 clusive method of determining whether or not the feed is the cause of the 

 trouble is a biological test. Such a test can be conducted on the premises 

 of the feeder. If the feed is suspected, confine in sanitary pens two lots 

 of healthy chicks. Give to one lot the suspected feed and to the other lot 

 a feed known to be good. Should the chicks receiving the suspected feed 

 become ill and the others remain healthy, there is evidence that the feed 

 is the cause. Under such circumstances, notify the Feed Control Super- 

 visor and an official sample will be drawn. The official sample will be 

 analyzed to determine if the manufacturer is responsible. 



The most common reason the purchaser has for asking to have the 

 sample analyzed is to satisfy himself whether or not the feed meets its 

 guarantee, and if it does not, to obtain evidence upon which to base a 

 claim for shortage. The Station can assume no responsibility for the draw- 

 ing of an unofficial sample but can attest only the accuracy of the analysis 

 of the sample as submitted. It is practically impossible to secure a repre- 

 sentative sample of a feedingstuff composed of several ingredients varying 

 widely in composition without the aid of a sampling tube for drawing the 

 sample and proper equipment for mixing it. A feed may contain as one 

 of its ingredients gluten meal averaging 40 per cent protein, and as an- 

 other ingredient oat mill feed averaging 5 per cent protein. These ma- 

 terials are so different in physical condition that the shaking in transit 

 tends to separate them even though they may have been perfectly mixed 

 by the manufacturer before bagging. It is apparent that an accurate sample 

 of a shipment of a feed can only be had by drawing a core from several 

 bags. Since a representative sample is as essential as an accurate analysis 

 in judging the value of a shipment of feed, it is evident that a satisfactory 

 adjustment can seldom be effected on the basis of an unofficial sample. 



Notwithstanding the objections which may be raised to the analysis 

 of samples taken without proper sampling equipment, the Station is dis- 

 posed to continue this work as long as there is evidence that it constitutes 

 a useful service. The samples so submitted should be drawn from at least 

 ten bags in a manner which will insure that the small lot sent for analysis 

 is as accurately representative as possible of the large lot from which it is 

 taken. Because of the cost of laboratory work and materials, an analysis is 

 not usually warranted on a sample drawn from less than a one-ton lot of 

 feed. 



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