The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1901-11-01
WHEAT AS ANIMAL FOOD.

An uukuOWu 1dCUOI ClAhU WILL c14UoI
into. the equation Of price making
on this years's crop of corn and
wheat, will be the amount Of wheat
diverted from, human to animal
consumption. Owing to the rela
tivelyssl flower prices for wheat than
corn in parts of the country where
the corn crop was totally or partial
ly destroyed this summer, extensive
feeding of wheat to live stock may
produce, as Presidents Warren Of
the Chicago Board Of trade says, "a
very interesting home in our wheat
supply before another year."
AS explained recently in this pa
per Mr. Warren received replies to
about three hundred letters address,
ed to millers throughout the princi
pal winter wheat to live stock, and
the extent to which millers are
running low grade flour into the
feed piles on account of the relative
ly high prices of feed stuffs as COM
pared with what and low grand
flour. The responses showed wheat
feeding and the mixing Of low grade
flour into mill feed, to be general in
Kansas and Missouri, and more or
less prevalent in Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
The amount of wheat feeding will
of course depend chiefly on the fu-
ture course Of the wheat and corn
markets. In Missouri and Kansas,
there would have to be quite an i'm
portant decline in corn or advance
in wheat, to stop the feeding Of
wheat. In other winter wheat states
where the margin between wheat
and corn prices is now very slight TO
uncertain, it would not take further
decline in wheat or an advance in
corn to make wheat feeding quite
general, or if instead, the price
movemnts should put what decided
prmium over corn, to stop the feed
ing of wheat, altogether. Thus the
prices of wheat and corn will in i'm
portant measure determine the
amount of wheat to be substituted
for corn as animal food.
AS to the healthfulness of wheat
feeding, both to cattle and hogs, and
especially to all Young growing
animals, there seems no longer rea-
son to doubt, though it is evident
certain precautions must lie observ-
ed to prevent disturbance to diges-
tive organs. In the conservative, -
edited by the Hon. j. Sterling Nor
ton, there appears an interesting
and thorough discussion of this sub
ject. 1t appears that wheat con-
tains practically the same amount
of protein per hundred pounds. as
oats, and that both wheat and oats
contain about thirty per cent more
protein than corn. Protein, which
is the albuminoid constituent of
grain, builds up the muscles, tend
ons and other albuminoid structure
of animals, and is also convertible
into fat. In carbohydrates, which
sustain the heat of the body, and
must be present in sufficient quanti-
: ties, to pvevent waste of the more
valuable fat, the position of wheat
is about midway between corn and
oats. The best form in which to
feed wheat is to roll or grind it into
a coarse meal, when it may he fed
alone or mix with corn meal or
ground oats The Conservative
says. " when wheat and corn are the
same price per 1nlShel it is prrttlu-
bic to feed wheat and sell corn:
First. because whrut weighs seven
per cent heavier per buShrl than
corn: secondly. because wheat Is,
weight ior weight. AL equally coed
grain for fattrniny animals. and Yet
ter for glwo;ng animals. : and third
Nv. because there is much less valre
in fertilizing elements removed
from the farm in corn than in
wheat. -('Ommelyial West.