Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-21
Care In Buying
Concentrated Feeds.

The era of ideal home-raised rations
for farm stock has not yet been ushered
in. 1t is coming slowly but surely, and
its basis will be much clover and much
alfalfa, corn, silage and homegrown
grains. Until then we shall have to de-
pend upon mill fed products for feeding
dairy COWS and other stock. With a
good supply of slower, mixed hay and
| other provender, we can get along
without concentrated feeding stuffs,
| but that kind of feeding will not bring
| the best results.
of feeding will not bring the best results.
Cows may have greedy appettes and
eat fast into the feed stores, but their
| milk yield will steadily decrease if con-
| eentrates containing much protein are
| denied. 1t takes protein, you know, to
manufacture milk. You might just as
we'll try to get milk without protein as
| a big. yield of corn without nitrogen in
| the soil This fact is fast becoming I'M
| derstood, but it needs still wider extern
sion in practice.
Easy to Swap Feeds.
| am not averse at any time to selling
| timothy hay or corn, and for the money
received for these. turn right around and
| buy cottonseed meal, gluten and other
commercial feeding stuffs. Neither corn
nor timothy carries much protein; and
when YOU come right down to 1t, COM
pairing either feed with other feeding
stuffs, neither is just the best feed for
the dairy herd. It is not for anyone to
say just what is the best concentrated
commercial feed. Many are good,
none is best. Yet there is always con-
| siderable variation as to cost and
Ecompositien, and therefore in buying
both factors must be considered.
tDon't buy a feed simply because some
agent has recommended it.
1t has always been my custom TO
Hook first at the composition. | want
to know how many pounds of diges-
tible protein and digestible carbohy
drates and fat in a ton of the feed be-
fore I purchase it. Then 1 want to
| take a long second look at the pro-
tein, because under farm conditions
protein is usually largely lacking in
great quantity. The carbohydrates
and fat are easily raised at home.
Farm feeds are largely possessed of
| these materials. OF course, alfalfa
and the cloyers contain a great deal
of protein, but the ordinary, farm
feed have too little protein, although
they do have an abundance of the
starches and fats. Hence in buying
feeds why buy more of the starches
and fats when you already have them
in great plenty at home?
How Much Protein in Feed?
This fact in mind causes me to look
carefully into the protein content.
invariably multiply the percentage of
protein in the several feeds I am con-
sidering by 90, so as to get the guam
| tity of digestible product in ton; then
by dividing this product into the ton
sale price / have the number of cents
that each pound of digestible protein
costs. By doing this with the several
feeds under consideration at any time
have on hand exactly the informa-
ton want for determining what feed
to buy: or if want more than one, l
can choose wisely, SO as to get the
most protein at the least cost.
| I was talking with a farmer the
other day. He is feeding ground corn
and oats to his dairy cows. We fig
ured what the protein cost in this
and found that it was % cents a
pound. He told me that he could get
cettonseed meal and gluten just as
easily as the corn and oats. When we
determined the cost of the protein
in these feeds, we found that they
averaged but Al cents a pound for
each pound of digestible protein. He
said he hadn't thought of it in that
way, but the figures were SO convinc-
ing that he Immediately made a
change of his feed. and not only
found that his rations cost less, but
that his cows actually began to in
crease In milk yield. Already a dou-
BILE gain had been secured.
| He will secure a third gain If he
takes care of the manure, for the
reason that manure made from cot
tonseed feeding is a good deal richer
in nitrogen than manure made from
corn fed cows. "The proof of the
pudding is always In the eating" so
in buying feeds you will get the proof
If you change from poor ration to
good ration, not only in lessened
cost. but in higher yields. Let's all
do little more figuring with the PEN
ell during the coming year. There
are dollars around somewhere every
time we do it.-Burkett in N. E. Home
stead