UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



JMf BULLETIN No. 1124 | 



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Washington, D. C. 



November 20, 1922 



THE MARKETING OF MILL FEEDS. 



By G. C. Wheelee, Investiffator in Feed Marketing, Bureau of Agricultural 



Economics. 



CONTENTS. 



How feeds are sold by mills 2 



Handling of feedstuffs by cooperative 



societies 9 



Trade rules 9 



Grades 11 



Page. 



How to study market conditions 15 



What to ascertain about prices 



quoted 17 



Feedstuff's laws 18 



Present needs of the trade 19 



Much has been written about nutritive values of various feeding 

 stuffs and the popular method of arriving at them, but comparatively 

 little is known by the average consumer about the merchandising of 

 feedstuffs, or about what happens to a car of feed from the time 

 it is sold by the manufacturer or miller until it finally reaches the re- 

 tailer. A thorough understanding of the various phases of feed 

 marketing would enable the dairyman to purchase his feed more 

 advantageousl^j^ and at the same time would place him in a position 

 to determine with little effort approximately what prices he should 

 pay for straight feeds delivered at his station. 



it has been estimated that there are at least 3,000 feed jobbers in 

 the United States. The number of retail dealers engaged in the 

 feed-distributing business is conjectural, but a survey made during 

 1918 disclosed that approximately 15,000 firms handled feedstuffs in 

 the northeastern section of the country, comprising the States of 

 Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, 

 Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont. 

 Many of these firms, of course, handled feeds only as a side line. 



According to figures published by the Bureau of the Census, the 

 farmers' feed bill for 1919 was $1,097,452,187. Millions of tons of 

 by-products of mills which formerly were allowed to go to waste 

 are now utilized in the manufacture of mixed feeds, or are sold 

 straight, enabling the dairy farmer to supplement locally produced 

 grains or to balance his own rations. 



Of the straight feeds, wheat feeds, which on an average selling 

 price of $50 per ton during the year 1920 represented a value of ap- 

 proximately $200,000,000, are no doubt the most important item, and 

 to avoid confusion the marketing of these feeds has been selected for 



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