8 
BULLETIN 1144. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
farmer feels that he ought to get through his cows as much as he 
would receive by selling his grain and hay. 
One trouble with using market prices for feeds is that the home- 
grown feeds are not put to the test of sale agreement between in- 
terested parties as to grade. Much of the feed used for livestock 
is not marketable, or if marketable would be docked in price. Hay, 
however, has a relatively high market price because so much of It 
is fed out at home that the surplus is seldom more than enough to 
meet the demand of deficit areas. Then, too. the memory of high 
prices received persists, and it is common to assume that all the 
available supply might have been sold at those prices if it had not 
been fed, which of course is contrary to the experience of the most 
optimistic speculators. Then there is the expense of getting the feeds 
to market and the important consideration of maintaining fertility 
of the land through use of farm manure. 
Fig. 2. — The higher producing cows usually get a higher proportion of concentrates in 
their rations than the others. The high producers are economical of labor. 
Some farmers had to pay, in 1920. as high as $100 a ton for a part 
of their feed (in bag lots).. Most of the purchased grain fed during 
the year was bought at prices above $60 per ton — even bran nearly 
touching that figure. Oats and corn would have sold for more than 
this for a considerable time. Although the price dropped sharply 
in the fall, and farmers perhaps did not get $60 per ton for their 
feed through the cows, it is felt that $60 is a reasonable figure to use. 
Hay is figured at $25 per ton, though some hay was purchased at 
$30 and quotations for alfalfa went even higher. It takes a high 
price to make it worth while for a farmer to sell hay, especially if 
his farm is heavily stocked. Hay at $25 in the barn will ordinarily 
show a profit over cost of growing. This is approximately its con- 
version value compared with grain at $60 per ton. 
Silage at $10 per ton is high or low according to the yield per 
acre. At ordinary yields, common practice and going rates for labor, 
corn silage cost very close to $10 per ton for the 1919 crop, most 
