UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
|gPf BULLETIN No. 1124 | 
*s&r < ^5u 
Washington, D. C. T November 20, 1922 
THE MARKETING OF MILL FEEDS. 
By G. C. "Wheeler, Investigator in Feed Marketing, Bureau of Agricultural 
Economics. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
How feeds are sold by mills 2 
Handling of feedstuffs by cooperative 
societies 9 
Trade rules 9 
Grades 11 
Page. 
How to study market conditions 15 
Wbat to ascertain about prices 
quoted 17 
Feedstuffs laws 18 
Present needs of the trade 19 
Much has been written about nutritive values of various feeding 
stuffs and the popular method of arriving at them, but comparatively 
little is known by the average consumer about the merchandising of 
feedstuffs, or about what happens to a car of feed from the time 
it is sold by the manufacturer or miller until it finally reaches the re- 
tailer. A thorough understanding of the various phases of feed 
marketing would enable the dairyman to purchase his feed more 
advantageously and at the same time would place him in a position 
to determine with little effort approximately what prices he should 
pay for straight feeds delivered at his station. 
It has been estimated that there are at least 3,000 feed jobbers in 
the United States. The number of retail dealers engaged in the 
feed-distributing business is conjectural, but a survey made during 
1918 disclosed that approximately 15,000 firms handled feedstuffs in 
the northeastern section of the country, comprising the States of 
Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, 
Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont. 
Many of these firms, of course, handled feeds only as a side line. 
According to figures published by the Bureau of the Census, the 
farmers' feed bill for 1919 was $1,097,452,187. Millions of tons of 
by-products of mills which formerly were allowed to go to waste 
are now utilized in the manufacture of mixed feeds, or are sold 
straight, enabling the dairy farmer to supplement locally produced 
grains or to balance his own rations. 
Of the straight feeds, wheat feeds, which on an average selling 
price of $50 per ton during the year 1920 represented a value of ap- 
proximately $200,000,000, are no doubt the most important item, and 
to avoid confusion the marketing of these feeds has been selected for 
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