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r.ri.LETIX 1144. V. S. 1>KI'AHT.\1KNT <>K AC.RIt'ULTUKE. 



farmer feels that he ought to get through his cows as much as he 

 would receive by selling his grain and hay. 



One trouble with using market prices for feeds is that the home- 

 grown feeds are not put to the test of sale agreement between in- 

 terested parties as to grade. Much of the feed used for livestock 

 is not marketable, or if marketable would be docked in price. Hay, 

 however, has a relatively high market price because so much of It 

 is fed out at home that the surplus is seldom more than enough to 

 meet the demand of deficit areas. Then, too, the memory of high 

 prices received persists, and it is common to assume that all the 

 available supply might have been sold at those prices if it had not 

 been fed. which of course is contrary to the experience of the most 

 optimistic speculators. Then there is the expense of getting the feeds 

 to market and the important consideration of maintaining fertility 

 of the land through use of farm manure. 



Fig. 2. — The higher producing cows usually get a higher proportion of concentrates in 

 their rations than the others. The high producers are economical of labor. 



Some farmers had to pay, in 1920, as high as $100 a ton for a part 

 of their feed (in bag lots). Most of the purchased grain feci during 

 the year was bought at prices above $60 per ton — even bran nearly 

 touching that figure. Oats and corn would have sold for more than 

 this for a considerable time. Although the price dropped sharply 

 in the fall, and farmers perhaps did not get $60 per ton for their 

 feed through the cows, it is felt that $60 is a reasonable figure to use. 



Hay is figured at $25 per ton, though some hay was purchased at 

 $30 and ((notations for alfalfa went even higher. It takes a high 

 price to make it worth while for a farmer to sell hay, especially if 

 his farm is heavily stocked. Hay at $25 in the barn will ordinarily 

 show a profit over cost of growing. This is approximately its con- 

 version value compared with grain at $60 per ton. 



Silage at $10 per ton is high or low according to the yield per 

 acre. At ordinary yields, common practice and going rates for labor, 

 corn silage cost very close to $10 per ton for the 1919 crop, most 



