AGRICULTURAL EXPERUMENT STATION. 103 



The Relative Value of Skimmed Milk and Corn Meal 

 The Money Value of Skimmed Milk. 



The estimation of the relative values of foods, or even their 

 pecuniary value, on the basis of the results of experiments, is a 

 matter of great difficulty. It is practically impossible to assign to 

 cattle foods hard and fast relative values that hold under all cir- 

 cumstances. For instance, in these experiments skimmed milk 

 gave relative returns quite unlike, according to the circumstances 

 of feeding. In Period 1 of the experiment with Lots 1 and 2, 

 2,236 lbs. of skimmed milk and 263 1-2 lbs. of corn meal produced 

 practically the same growth as 861 lbs. of skimmed milk and 430 

 lbs. of corn meal. Here 1,374 lbs. of skimmed milk did the same 

 work as 166 1-2 lbs. corn meal, or one pound of meal proved to 

 be approximately equal to eight pounds of milk. It is significant 

 that the digestible matter is very nearly the same in these weights 

 of milk and meal. When, however, the milk was withdrawn from 

 the ration of Lot 2, the skimmed milk fed to Lot 1 not only 

 replaced corn meal in the ratio of 8 to 1, but it should also be 

 credited over and above this with the difference in growth of 2 1-2 

 lbs. of live weight for each 100 lbs. of milk fed. 



Again in the experiments with the pigs of Lots 5 and 6, where 

 Lot 5 was fed milk, meal and potatoes, and Lot 6 only meal and 

 potatoes, eight pounds of milk took the place of one pound of 

 meal, and caused an extra growth with two young pigs of 20 1-2 

 lbs. in thirty-two days, or at the rate of 9 lbs. of live weight for 

 each 100 lbs. of milk fed. 



In another case, Period 2, with the pigs of Lots 3 and 4, 1,924 

 lbs. of skimmed milk did the same work, practically, as 240 1-2 

 lbs of pea meal, which is exactly 8 lbs. of milk to one pound of 

 pea meal. 



Let us closely examine these several instances. In the first, 

 much more milk was fed to one lot of animals than to the other. 

 The two rations contained the same amount of digestible material 

 and were equally efficient. In other words, the pigs eating the 

 smaller quantity of milk had enough to give the ration its maxi- 

 mum efficiency, and the extra milk fed to the other animals simply 

 took the place of so much corn meal, consequently it was worth 

 only the price of corn meal, which was 12 1-2 cents for each 100 

 lbs. of skimmed milk, with meal at one cent per pound. If then, 

 a farmer has some skimmed milk, enough to make up a third of 



