The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920, 1910-08-20
Raise Your Own Feed or Buy Materials
and Mix it Yourself.


NJ ISSISSIPPI alone will buy something like
N 100000 worth of mixed concentrated
A'A feeding stuffs this year. This, of course,
does not include the large quantities of corn, oats,
and cottonseed meal purchased by the live stock
feeders Of the State much Of which comes from
without our borders
This means that our Mississippi farmers alone
are buying about 900 tons of mixed feeds
and paying average Of from $2S to $50 ton
for them. If are farmers (and the census
ports show that about 80 per cent of the people
Of Mississippi live in the country ought to be
raising these feeds the farms instead Of buy
ing them; but IL we will not raise them, why pay
IS to $40 ton more for a mixed feed than it will
cost us to buy good materials and mix it our
selves? There is nothing gained in buying these
mixed feeds Any mix them himself
much cheaper than he pay the commercial
dealers in feeding stufs to mix them for him.
For instance, a ton of feed containing 500 pounds
cottonseed meal, 500 pounds corn, 200 pounds
wheat bran, and 200 pounds Of cottonseed hulls
be bought and mixed by any farmer for from
S27 to $40 ton. We recently asked what
advantage there would be in mixing these feeds
ourselves II ton costs as much as $50; about the
average price OF the mixed feeds on the market?
The advantage is large one, for the simple rea-
that such feed would be worth at least 25
per cent more than most Of the mixed feeds on
the market that are sold for $2S to $40 ton.
For instance such feed would analyze about
follows:
Protein .............23. $500 per cent.
Crude nber 500 per cent
Nitrogen free extract. 1888 per cent.
Fats (ether extract) -. 1856 per cent.
We would not usually advise using the 200
pounds OF cottonseed bulls. in this sample at
the present price of bulls, would buy
wheat bran at the prices generally paid; but II
people will buy such feeds instead OF raising
good, better, at one-quarter, or half, the
I, ode
and mix them much more economically, consider
ing the quality Of the feeds they will obtain. For
instance, we find a feed on the market, and sell
ing for $1.75 a hundred, at the rate Of $35
ton, which has the following guaranteed analysis:
Protein ...........1 1850 per cent.
Crude fiber .........1 1000 per cent
Nitrogen free extract so per cent.
Fats ................ 4.5O per cent.
While this feed is little better than sam
pie in carbohydrates (crude fiber and nitrogen
free extract), it is more than enough poorer in
fats to balance its advantage in carbohydrates and
contains less than two-thrds as much protein az
the sample we mixed from well-known feeds at
hand. If we wished feed approximately equal
to, little better than the ready-mixed feed re-
fered to, it could be obtained from about
Cottonseed meal ...........4 400 lbs.
Riee polish ................4O O IDS.
Corn ................ SOO IDS
Cottonseed hulls 800 lbs.
This mixture would be little higher in pro-
ten, fats, and nitrogen free extract, and approx
matsly the same in crude fiber. This mixture
would not cost over $1.25 a hundred or $25 a
ton the farmer saving $40 ton by doing his
mixing.
But why buy such mixed feed at all? The alb
surdty of such procedure will be apparent when
we compare the composition of the mixed feed we
found selling for $35 ton with ton of cowpea
hay as follows:
Crude Nit free
Protein fiber Ext. Fats.
Lbs Lbs. Lbs. Lbs