The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1908-11-20
VALUE OF WHEAT.
Good Profit May Be Made by Feeding
to Poultry at High Prices.
By James Dryden Poultryman. Oregon Agricul-
tural College. Corvallis.

" OdtHr al tItRH FtfCSSs
BY James Dryden. Poultryman. Oregon Agricul.
tural College. Corvallis.
The prices of poultry and eggs fol
low closely the trend of wheat prices
and of corn prices, the two staple poul
try foods in the United States. The
tendency is for poultry keepers to eur
tail the flock of poultry when prices
of food are high, and to increase the
flock when the prices of food are low
When the grain prices rise more poul
try are sent to market, and later or
there is scarcity of both poultry and
eggs.
The question for the poultryman and
the farmer to consider in this connec
tion is, at what prices of grain does
it pay the farmer to market the grain
rather than feed it to the poultry, fol
the business of the farmer is to get the
most out of the soil, whether it be in
raw or concentrated products. 1t is 9
fine point to determine just where the
profit in feeding poultry as well as
other livestock disappears in the up
ward tendency of the price of grain
a parting of the ways between a profit
and losss
The general tendency among farmers
is to sell the grain, rather than feed
it, long before the parting of the ways
has been reached, and it is knowledge
of this fact that assures the skillfu
and persistent feeder of a profit. The
parting of the ways comes very soor
to the majority of feeders. One mar
may be telling the exact truth wher
he says that he can make no profit il
feeding seventy wheat, and
another may be equally truthful whe1
he says he can make a profit in feed
ing one-dollar wheat. The difference
in the two men is a difference in skill
in feeding. With good stock and gooG
care the skillful teeder will make {
0roft in feeding high-priced grain, but
no one can make profit with pool
stock and poor care at any price fol
rain.
The price of wheat is higher nov
than it has been for probably ten o.
fifteen years, and it is frequently sale
that it is too high to feed to chickens
Two or three things should be con
sidered in this connection. First, tht
prices of poultry and eggs will rise il
many chickens are marketed, and the
farmer who keeps his chickens viii
make as much profit as he did wher
the price of wheat was low. That is
the price of poultry products will ad
just itself to the prices of grain. Sec
ond, how much does it really cost tt
feed hen for a years Does any one
knowe
In experiments made by the writer
covering several years, in which every
ounce of food was weighed, six pens
of Leghorn hens consumed during the
year 564 pounds wheat, 296 pounds
corn, 203 pounds oats, 112 pounds brar
and shorts and 235 pounds skim milk
in addition to some animal food. Tht
cost of the total food per fowl for thu
year varied in different pens from g.
cents to 78 cents, and averaged 6(
cents. The wheat was charged at
cent pound, corn at IL cents, oat.
at cent, skim milk at fifth of {
cent and bran and shorts at three
Ill LIS VI d CGHb. lG dulIudl 1OOO COS
from 5 to cents per fowl The whea
constituted nearly half Of the tota
cost.
The hens laid an average of l4A egg
per fowl, valued at $1.6S at local ice
for eggs. The prices were from Il
cents to 25 cents per dozen, muci
lower than the prices are in Oregon
at the present time. If wheat had beer
worth, say, 80 cents and had beer
charged for at that rate, and bran u
cent pound, the cost per fovy
would have been about 16 cents more
or so cents instead of 66 cents. But
eggs are also higher in price than they
were then.
Taking the monthly egg yield of the
six pens of Leghorns and computing
the value of the eggs laid each montl
at the average wholesale prices of egg,
in Portland during the past two years
the results would be as follows: