Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-01-25
WHAT THEY ARE AND why
Commercial Feedstuffs Not Al
ways What They Seem and
Farmers Should Know.

such variety OF feeds, combina-
tons and prices confront the farmer
that he needs to have a good under
standing of their values to know what
can be purchased that will come near
est to meeting his demands and that
will prove economical for his own par
ticular branch of live stock feeding.
The farmer who buys grain of any
kind for feeding should understand the
general character and nature of any
grain to which his attention is called
and fully understand whether it is a
carbohydrate or a heterogeneous feed.
He needs also to understand something
Of the general nature and source Of the
waste products which make up large
proportion Of the commercial feeds. l
do not mean to infer that any feed that
is made from a waste product is in
ferior in feeding value.
Certain parts Of the kernel of corn
that appear in the gluten meals are
from parts Of the grain in no way in
ferior to the part removed in feeding
value, but oat hulls from the oatmeal
and breakfast food factories that are
used to grind with corn and the prod
not sold for corn and oats ground or
corn chop have no more feeding value
than so much chaff and are swindIe
For this reason the ingredients of all
mixed feeds should be clearly stated
for the benefit of the feeder.
Gottonseed Meal-The color of this
feedstuf should be light yellow and
Il should have a clean, nutty flavor.
The percentage Of protein in the best
product should be between AZ and As
per cent Dark colored cottonseed
meal should be regarded with suspi-
ciqn.
It should not be fed in large guam
titles. One pound day is all COW
should be allowed. More is dangerous
and many experienced feeders claim
that it will bring on blindness. The
prevailing opinion seems to be that
when it is fed by an experienced feed
er it makes a valuable supplement to
the dairy cows ration.
In the southern states a large
amount is fed to steers and fattening
swine, but the price of the feed in
the east and north would not warrant
feeding it to fattening stock.
Gluten Feeds-Gluten feeds are, a
mixture of all the waste and by-prod-
ucts from the factory. They contain
much less protein than the gluten
meals and more than the corn brans
They show a range of protein from Is
to % per cent, and in buying it is i'm
portant that the feeder should know
what grade of gluten feeds he is get
ting.
This class of feed is often called
Inf &C. ie.
Inferior to it in feeding value The
tests of the various gluten feeds are
not as satisfactory as those of the
meal, and every lot that is purchased
should have a guaranteed analysis.
Brewers and Distillers' Dried Grains
The brewers grains and feed come
from the operations of mailing an6
sprouting. In mailing the barley
grains are allowed to sprout and before
the matted grains are crushed for brew
Ing purposes the sprouts are removed
and when dry are known as malt
sprouts.
They are one of the most bulky OF
grain feeds and fairly good feed fol
COWS, but care must be exercised ir
feeding or the milk will have a pc
cuilar flavor that can be detected and
some city dealers refuse to accept milk
from cows that are fed sprouts.
From the matted grains is extracted
the sugar that has formed from the
starch during the termination which
has occurred and these extracted grains
after drying appear in the markets as
dried brewers grains. They are much
poorer in starch and richer in protein
than the entire barley grain and are
regarded as a fairly good heterogeneous
food for dairy cattle, but are not as a
usual thing fed to other stock to a
very large extent.
The Oldest and most popular feeding
stuff of all consists of bran, middlings
and low-grade fours. They are more
rich in both mineral and nitrogen than
flour. Wheat brans are adulterated by
few dealers, but as a rule good bran
can be obtained from almost any relia-
BILE dealer. The best contains from 12
to II per cent protein.
Middlmgs contain more protein, and
as may be expected, more starch, and
are not as popular a dairy feed as
bran, but why it is we cannot under
stand, unless 1t is that bran is more
palatable than middlings They ana
lyze from Is to 20 per cent protein or
nitrogen and are unexcelled for swine
feed. and may be fed as a part ration
to all farm animals.
To quite an extent all feeders are
Ignorant of the value of most feeds
Some millers run all the by-products
from the mills into one mixture an6
sell it as mixed feed, but as a rule 6
man had better mix his own feed, un-
less he is sure of what he is buying
when he buys a So called prepared
food Oats hulls are probably used the
most of any adulterants, and the Ohio
experimental station has stated thai
out of sixty-nine kinds of oats tested
the huh constituted from "a to 35 pei
cent of the weight of the grain, the av.
erage being 80 per cent.
From other sources it has been founG
that the whole grain will show abou
10 per cent protein the hulls about
per cent protein and the hulled berry
about is per cent protein.
The lessons to be drawn from thi.
are clear and the purchaser should
consider the matter well before invest.
ing in any of the o-called mixed feed.
that contain oat hulS