The Dickinson press., 1914-01-24
STOCK FOODS; ARE
NOW ON THE MARKET
Such Preparations Little Used.
BY Farmers at Present.
INGREDIENTS | COST LITTLE

1HUIlLuIlHlO JUDI III lie
BY GUY E.YoUNGBERo, South Da.
.s kota State College.
The stock food" question is an old
one among farmers. Although it has
been solved for some time the .occa-
sioDal inquiries and requests for an
alysis OF, such foods at this station
show that there r yet a few who
have not abandoned the idea that it is
profitable to use such material for
their, animals either as tonics, fatten-
ers, condition powders or cure-alls.
Therefore a short review should not
be unwarranted.
There used to be on the market in
every town in the state patent foods
for stock. Wether they were called
just plain stock food or fatteners, etc,
makes little diffe:%lce as long as they
contained about the same constituents.
The, claim was made that small guam
titles would immensely invigorate and
fatten animals and that the financial
gain was very great and all on at
count of the scientific compromising"
of these substances. There are yet
upon the market a few such prepara-
lions, but they r mostly old surplus
stock and not much is bought. The
state law enacted some four or six
years ago has a specific provision reg
ulating the sale Of such substances
It provides that, every stock food or
c%ontainer must be labeled with the
names Of each and every ingredient
contained therein. Any package sold
without such a label subjects the sell.
er to q fine. In other words, the
farmer has a chance to know what he
buys.
The constituents that have always
been the makeup. of these foods are
mainly as follows: Common salt
(sodium chloride), glauber salt, salt
peter, blood root, anise seed, fuenu-
greek, cardamon, charcoal, sulphur,
.copperus (iron sulphate), bran, chaff,
shorts, middlings and oil meal. The
three last mentioned are the filters
and constitute almost 100 per cent of
the food. With the exception of one
or two Of the others they are not rec
ognized as medicinal agents or foods
by veterinarians. Even in the case
Of those having medicinal qualities,
such as copperus and saltpeter, their
amount in stock food is SO small that
it would require a hundred pounds of
the food to make an average medicin-
al dose. What would then be the eff
feet of a few Irresponsible Of the food
a day? None but the protein value of
the oil meal, shorts and bran.
The patent foods were sold at ex-
brilliant prices. That now sold is
somewhat reduced, but still many
times too high. For instance, a TWEEN
ty-fve pound pail of patent food sells
for $3.50. It consists Of oil meal,
common salt and fuenugreek 1.-THE
last to give odor). The amount of
salt and fuenugreek is very small and
cheap, costing almost nothing, in fact,
while the oil meal costs $40 per ton.
Two thousand pounds at $3.50 per
twenty-five pounds makes 5000 a ton
for the patent food. You would there
fore be paying $3.50 too much. The real
facts are that many a farmer has paid
exactly such a price.
There has been even the "concen-
trated type" which la the above with
out the filler. Such is even without
the protein value of the above describ-
ed. It Is not denied that a few Of the
constituents have a certain value
when used in certain cases and In
rather good amount.
Numerous feeding experiments at
this and other experiment stations, as
we'll as many analyses and tests, show
sconelusively in every instance that, il
necessary, purchase the single ingre-
dent in the pure form, as this can be
done at comparatively small cost.
Feed ordinary feeding stuffs and when
an animal gets out Of condition or
sick call your veterinarian and let
him prescribe. You will be the gamer.
The class Of substances usually
thought Of in connection with the
above patent foods r tankage, dried
blood, ground bone and the like.
These are sold according to THEREON
tent OF protein and fat mainly, and, in
the caseSof ground bone, phosphate.
The prices are within reasonable limit
and they cannet be classed Is quack
remedies.
SUBS0IllNG LAND.
Experiments Show Increased Yieldo