Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1907-02-01
Agricultural.
POTATOES FOR STOCK FOOD.

r. Many farmers are now in condition to
ook into the matter Of the feeding val
ne OF potatoes with benefit to themselves
and their farms. 1t appears that there
will be no great improvement in the
present market conditions, and that po-
tatoes, from now on, must meet the low
lprices which now prevail. In Aroos-
took county there is not amount OF live
stock kept which will warrant the feed
ing of large proportion of the crop
now remaining, but there the starch fac.
tories will take most Of the surplus.
l fear, however, that the prices to be
received for these potatoes will hardly
cover their actual value for feeding pur-
poses if fed to good farm animals and
the resultant manure returned to the
soil.
For long time potatoes have been
fed at The Pines as supplementary to
the silo or the soiling crop and always
with good results. Every day this win
ter the cows have had one feed day
from our small potatoes, and it is enter
esting to note their knowledge of the
time in the day they are usually fed and
their keen appetites for them. Careful
experiments in the past have fully con-
WINGED us that they have no i'll effect
upon the quality of the milk or butter
when properly fed In fact, am pre-
pared to say that we have improved the
butter and added to the churning abil-
ity Of the cream by their use.
Careful study of the literature of va
r.ous experiment stations fails to throw
much light upon the practical value of
potatoes or other roots for feeding pur-
poses. We do find, however, careful
analysis of the potato and outlined state
ments of the amount of actual food nu-
trients they contain. These analyses
are Of value as . guide to the feeding
of potatoes, but their feeding value can
only be ascertained through answers to
questions asked of the animals that eat
them. In looking over some of these
analyses we find great variations in the
composition Of potatoes, one analysis
showing protein content 4 IL per cent.
q proportion relatively greater than in
corn, while the starch content has vari-
ed from 8 per cent to q 78 per cent.
| presume the starch factories find as
great a variation in the starch content
of potatoes in actual practice
That being the case, it will perhaps
be as we'll TO fall back upon results OBJ
tanned from the careful observations of
feeders,
In practice at The Pines pototoes are
used instead of silsge, in about equal
quantities by weight. That is, if 20
pounds of potatoes are fed, the quantity
of silage is lessened by that amount.
We do not hesitate to make potatoes
one half of this ration, however, ex-
tending the silage feeding season pro-
portionately
Now, as to results: After figuring
cost Of silage and the cost of hay as it
averages in our market, and consider
ing the effect upon the animal of sue
culent food so very palatabe as is the
potato, we have come to set their value
for our use at 20 cents bushel, or IS
cents barrel.
IT we are fairly correct in our con.
illusions, and think we are, no farmer
need feel very badly if he finds himself
with quite a quantity of potatoes on
hand if he has dairy COWS or any kind
of young stock in sufficient numbers to
dispose of them to advantage, as the
prices.mentioned are but slightly below
the cost of production as estimated by
some Aroostook farmers.-B. W. Nc.
Keen, Frycburg, Maine.