50 FARM CROPS 



thousands of cattle to be fed with purchased feeds, 

 I think of the whistle and wonder how many men 

 are paying too much for the ones they have pur- 

 chased. Although much has been said and written 

 about the feeding of farm animals, the fact re- 

 mains, nevertheless, that the purchase of their feed 

 is still a sort of a hit or miss affair. Some buy 

 without regard to relative merits, some select feeds 

 because they are cheap, some use only the old stand- 

 ard kinds and some only those at hand and easiest 

 to get. To me, however, any one of these methods is 

 the purchase of a whistle for which too high a price 

 is paid. 



The few things that are already certainly 

 known about feeds should never be allowed to get 

 away from our minds. I allude especially to their 

 composition, the ingredients being protein, the 

 muscle and milk makers; fat and starch, the fat 

 and heat makers; mineral matter, the bone maker; 

 and water, just plain water. Water and mineral 

 matter need not concern us, for the reason that they 

 are either present in sufficient quantities or can be 

 easily provided. The constituents that really con- 

 cern us are protein, fat and starch. The ordinary 

 crops of the farm contain the latter two, but with 

 few exceptions they are deficient in protein. The 

 farm, therefore, provides bounteously the fats and 

 starches, and is in a sense a big heat factory in 

 which is made the constituents for heat, fat and 

 energy for live stock. And the farm might be 

 made to grow the protein also, if the clovers, alfalfa 

 and other legumes were readily taken to heart, as 

 they should be. Negligent though we may be 

 in regard to home-grown protein, most farmers are 

 abundantly provided with carbohydrates and fat. 



