CHAPTER VII 

 HOW TO BUY FEEDS 



The object in buying feeds is to select those which at the least 

 cost will form a satisfactory ration with the home-grown materials. 

 By a satisfactory ration we mean one that will produce the 

 maximum amount of milk. It must have adequate protein and be 

 highly digestible. It must furnish the proper bulk and variety and 

 be palatable. These factors have been discussed previously. If 

 we overlook them in trying to get a cheap ration, any money saved 

 may be lost many times in lessened production. 



100. Digestible part valuable part.— When a feed is taken 

 into the body, a certain part is digested and absorbed while the 

 remainder is excreted in the manure. Of course, only that part 

 which is digested is of use to the animal; thus, in buying feeds 

 we want to get the maximum amount of digestible material for our 

 money. In fact, the only real way to tell what feeds are cheapest 

 is to compare them on the basis of their digestible material. To do 

 this we compute the total digestible nutrients of each feed. By 

 actual trials with animals, the amount of digestible protein, 

 digestible fiber, digestible carbohydrates and digestible fat has 

 been determined for every common feed. If we multiply the diges- 

 tible fat by 2.25 and add to this product the other digestible nu- 

 trients, we obtain the total digestible nutrients. The fat is multi- 

 plied by 2.25 because it furnishes 2.25 times as much feed energy 

 as the other nutrients. The total digestible nutrients in 100 pounds 

 of each of the common feeds are shown in Table I in the appendix. 



101. Cost of digestible nutrients.— Now, let us illustrate the 

 buying of feeds on the basis of total digestible nutrients. Suppose 

 a feed dealer has the following feeds available at the prices named : 



Corn meal $36 . 50 Standard middlings ... $35 . 05 



Ground oats 38 . 60 Flour middlings 38 . 80 



Corn gluten feed 49 . 80 Wheat mixed feed 36 . 30 



Hominy feed 38 .05 Cottonseed meal, 43%. 58 . 05 



Wheat bran 35 . 05 Linseed oil meal 59 . 05 



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