464 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



reasonably high, it may be possible to buy both food and 

 live stock and feed them at a profit. 



Feeding sheep and cattle at stockyards and other 

 centers has been made possible under the conditions named. 

 More commonly such feeding has centered at various points 

 in the Mississippi basin and in proximity to the great grain 

 growing centers of the central west and northwest. Sheep 

 especially from the western ranges have been thus fat- 

 tened oftentimes in very large numbers and on screenings 

 taken out of the grain and supplemented. Fattening animals 

 thus, of course, effects a saving in labor. But, viewed from 

 the standpoint of the influence which it exerts upon farm- 

 ing in states where it is practiced, it is open to the fol- 

 lowing objections : ( I ) It centers feeding at a limited num- 

 ber of points which should be done on the farm, because 

 of the profitable employment that it would furnish to the 

 farmers on many farms during the leisure season; (2) it 

 consumes fodders and frequently grains drawn from the 

 farm which should be fed on the same for its enrichment ; 

 (3) the fertilizer made at the various feeding centers is 

 usually in a large degree wasted. 



In certain sections, it is possible to grow one product 

 in great abundance for a certain kind of feeding, while its 

 best complemental food does not grow well there. Under 

 these conditions, it may be profitable to buy that food which 

 helps to balance the ration. In alfalfa areas in the western 

 valleys, it may pay well, under certain conditions, to buy 

 corn and other grain to feed with the alfalfa. In corn-grow- 

 ing areas where protein is much wanting, it may pay well 

 to purchase some protein food as bran or cottonseed meal 

 to feed along with the corn. In other areas which may be 

 made to grow corn ensilage in food form but which produce 

 grain shyly, it may be well to purchase the latter to add 

 to the silage rather than to try to grow them. 



When it is necessary to supplement the fertilizer made 

 on the farm by purchasing fertility, this may sometimes 

 be obtained more cheaply through foods purchased and fed 



