FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



INTRODUCTION 



LIVE STOCK AND- PROFITABLE FARMING 



Farm animals are really living factories that are continuously con- 

 verting their feed into products useful to man. A most important 

 fact is that a large part of the feed thus made useful is of such char- 

 acter that it cannot be directly utilized by humans. Among the 

 products yielded by animals are such articles of human diet as meat, 

 milk, and eggs, materials like wool, mohair, and hides, which meet 

 other needs of man, and, of greater aggregate value than any one of 

 these, the work performed by draft animals. Each year the farm 

 animals in the United States yield over five billion dollars' worth of 

 useful products — a sum almost equal to the value of all the crops 

 harvested. 



As the population of our country increases, most naturally a smaller 

 portion of the crops raised can be fed to animals and more will be qon- 

 sumed directly by humans. This change must come with the fin- 

 creased demand for human food, since even high-producing animals 

 can convert but a small part of their food into forms edible for man. 

 However, not only is the number of farm animals failing to keep pace 

 with the increase in population, but the number of cattle and sheep 

 in this country has actually decreased in recent years, and the number 

 of swine has increased but little. This means that animal products 

 can not long hold their present important place in our diet unless 

 American fanners come to appreciate the advantages of stock farm- 

 ing and better understand the principles and methods which are 

 essential to its success. 



Live-stock farming and soil fertility. — With the high prices ruling, 

 many farmers are selling their crops for cash, rather than marketing 

 at least a portion thru feeding them to live stock, and thereby practic- 

 ing balanced agriculture. Too often they forget that each ton of 

 grain sold removes from $7 to $8 in fertility from the soil, and that 

 this gradual mining of their farms will surely result in worn-out fields 

 that must forever afterwards be fed with commercial fertilizers in 

 order to produce fair crops. On the other hand, thru feeding a part 



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