840 



Notes on Feeding Stuffs for December. 



[Dec, 



NOTES ON FEEDING STUFFS FOR 



DECEMBER. 



E. T. Halnan, M.A., Dip. Agric. (Cantab.), 

 Ministry of Agnciilture and Fisheries. 



How to use the Feeding Stufis Table. — Several correspon- 

 dents have asked for information as to the method of using 

 the table given every month in these notes, and it may be 

 useful to repeat here notes that have been given at different 

 times in previous issues. 



It v^ill be noted that the table contains two sections. The 

 first deals with the actual current wholesale prices at markets, 

 and the second gives an estimate of the values for feeding on 

 the farm home-grown feeding stuffs. 



Market Prices. — When a farmer feeds a purchased cake or 

 feeding stuff to stock, a certain amount of the nitrogen, potash 

 and phosphates in that feeding stuff finds its way into the 

 urine or the dung and is used for manuring the ground. A 

 feeding stuff when purchased therefore has a manurial value 

 as well as a feeding value, so that in comparing the feeding 

 values of any purchased cakes we have to take into considera- 

 tion the manurial value. In the table given, the manurial 

 value of the cake or feeding stuff is first rassessed from the 

 current prices of artificial manures and this figure is sub- 

 tracted from the price per ton of the feeding stuff. This gives 

 the cost of the food value per ton of the feeding stuff. Now 

 the starch equivalent figure given in the fifth column of the 

 table gives as accurate a figure of the feeding value of the 

 feeding stuff as is required for all practical purposes. The 

 cost of the food value is therefore divided by the starch 

 equivalent figure, and this gives the cost per food unit. The 

 cheapest feeding stuff is the feeding stuff which is the cheapest 

 per unit of starch equivalent. Thus, in this month's table 

 wet porter grains prove the cheapest feeding stuff available 

 where local conditions allow its ready transport. American 

 oats are also much cheaper than Canadian. Scotch, or English 

 oats. 



Several correspondents have mentioned from time to time 

 that the prices given in this table differ from the prices current 

 on local markets. This is admittedly so, and for this reason 

 the method of working out the unit value of a feeding stuff is 

 given in the footnote to the table. This enables a farmer to 



