BREEDS OF DAIRY CATTLE 175 



materials which the mixtures contain, otherwise they are bought at 

 a loss. As a matter of fact, these mixtures are sold at about the prices 

 which rule for feeding stuffs of standard grade. 



If farmers foolishly think that it is desirable to have in the 

 grain mixture some fibrous material like oat huUs, let them hire 

 someone to grind up their straw stacks or the mows of poor hay and 

 mix the good grain with these. It is pitiful to see farmers of limited 

 means paying grain prices for an ingredient in certain commercial 

 cattle foods which is worth no more than the poorest coarse fodders 

 around the barn. Such costly business management seems to be the 

 fruit of either wilful ignorance or a lazy indifference. 



The manufacturer who uses oat hulls in such a way as to de- 

 ceive his customers is simply dishonest. One of the most glaring im- 

 positions discovered is the case of sample 246, representing an oat 

 feed found on sale at Homer. The oat feed ( ?) contained only 1.7 

 per cent of protein and over 30 per cent of fiber. It was nothing but 

 oat hulls. The selling price was $15 per ton ! Comment is unnec- 

 essary. 



The wise course for farmers to pursue is to purchase either 

 standard by-product feeding stuffs or the entire grains, such as corn 

 and oats, whole or ground. At $1.00 per hundred for corn meal and 

 $0.40 per bushel for oats, a mixture of equal parts by weight of these 

 two grains can be secured at no greater price than what is asked for 

 certain oat feeds. If hominy feed is used in place of the corn meal 

 the cost would be lessened. (N. Y. State Bui. 198.) 



Nevertheless, the feeder must use his business sense. "When 

 oats and corn are both hovering around $25 per ton there is no com- 

 bination of pure grains that can be made which will yield the manu- 

 facturer a profit at $18 per ton. If protein feeds are desired, consider 

 content of protein and price per ton together in the selection. The 

 protein feeds are submitted in a wide variety, and, this year at least, 

 the differences seem to be in analysis rather than in price. 



When home-grown feed commands a high price, sell and buy 

 cheaper feeds. In many instances the purse and the ration are both 

 improved. If corn is high and, therefore, to be sold, and gluten meal 

 is Dought in its place, the best of the corn is brought home again. 

 It is a common practice to exchange wheat for wheat bran ; why not 

 corn for gluten meal or feed? Still, this is not applicable to all feeds; 

 for while an exchange of corn for gluten products returns the best of 

 the corn, the exchange of oats for oat feed returns the poorest por- 

 tions of the oats. 



On the other hand, the home-grown products may be cheap, and 

 there is a point when the exchange, though desirable from the stand- 

 point of the ration, will not prove profitable enough to warrant itself. 

 Remoteness from market, the price of feeds, the freight rates and 

 the small returns from dairy products 'may so change conditions as 

 to render one feeder's folly, in feeding carbohydrates wastefully, the 

 most profitable, if not the most desirable, course for another feeder to 

 pursue. 



