Il6 El^EMENTARY TREATISE ON STOCK FEEDS AND FEEDING 



deficiencies in others. It may be said that such is permissible 

 within reasonable limits. The manufacturers of feeds intend to 

 guarantee their products as true to the actual composition as 

 possible. Most of the manufacturers fry to give a little more 

 nutrients than guaranteed, so that the feed will meet the guarantee 

 under reasonable conditions. Sometimes a feed will run above 

 the guarantee in one nutrient and low in the other two, or it may 

 run above in two nutrients and low in one; but it hardly ever 

 falls below the guarantee in all three nutrients. If the chemical 

 analysis approximates the guarantee, the system as laid down 

 for figuring rebates is permissible. The composition of the feed 

 stuffs found on the American market will usually come within 

 reasonable limits of their guarantees. 



How to Buy a Feed. — You have learned that many of our 

 feeds vary considerably in composition and therefore do not buy 

 cotton seed meal, linseed meal, wheat bran, etc. just because they 

 are so named. In purchasing feed stuffs consult the standards as 

 given for the several feeds in the previous sections, and send for 

 a bulletin from your State Experiment Station or from the State 

 Board of Agriculture, which may contain analyses of the prod- 

 ucts you intend to buy. After familiarizing yourself with what 

 the feed should contain, ask your feed dealer for the guarantee, 

 i. e. the chemical analysis and weight of the package. If the 

 feed or feeds you want to purchase are below the standards as 

 set forth in your state bulletin or in the table of standards in this 

 book, do not purchase. There are many dealers and merchants 

 who purchase the cheapest feeds possible, regardless of their 

 value, and sell these inferior feeds to their customers for near- 

 ly as high a price as high class feeds bring. They do this to 

 make greater profits. 



Before purchasing any feed the, purchaser should know the 

 kind of feed that is needed for his economical use. If con- 

 siderable molasses, corn, roughage (native hay, corn stover, etc.) 

 are on hand, a feed rich in protein should be secured. For ex- 

 ample, if plenty of carbohydrate feeds are on hand, as corn and 

 grass hay, it would be a waste of money to purchase a feed rich 

 in carbohydrates and in all probability the results of feeding such 



