The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1917-11-22
Investigation Shows Whole Grain
Can Be Purchased Much
More CheapIy.
WEEDS AND GRIT IN MANY
Suggestion Is Made That Buyers In
sist on Knowing Amount of Varl-
GUS Ingredients in What
They Buy.
From Department of Publications,
Michigan Agricultural College.


pOultry-and this includes the little
fellow who keeps a few hens as a
hobby as well as the big poultry man
who Is In the business for the money
there is In it-are many Of them fol-
lowing a policy of penny wise and
pound foolish in the buying of their
scratch feeds. Lured on by fancy
names and pretty pictures they have
been paying eXtravagant prices for
commercial mixtures made up of COM
mon grains, often of inferior quality,
adulterated not infrequently with
weed seeds and limestone grit.
A few shrewd individuals have for
some time been more or less aware of
this fact, but 1t remained for the
chemists of the experiment station of
the Michigan Agricultural college a
few days ago to prove 1T. Going at
it Systematically, as is the way with
scientific men, the college chemists
made complete analyses of practically
every scratch feed sold I'm the state.
Their conclusion was that with prices
as they stand at present November,
1910 it will save poultry men from
% to 100 per cent to go into the mar
ket If necessary, buy the whole grain
and mix ii themselves.
AS with all things, of course, both
good feeds and bad were found, but
irrespective of what class they fell
into, II was proved that 1t would be
much cheaper for poultry men to use
whole grain. Thus, there was one
feed, and IL was one Of the best by
the way, offered on the market for
$4.75 hundredweight. The corn,
wheat, oats, and barley of which 1t
was composed could have been pur-
chased anywhere for $3.50. The grain
contained in another commercial feed
was worth just $2S7 at prevailing
market prlces-mixed up and chris
tened with a pretty name 1t was SELL
ing at $3.50 to gullible poultry men.
In the very best sample there was
only Sab worth of grain-and II was
selling at $3.50. In most samples the
value of the gral2 ranged from $3.25
to 1918, and they were selling at
prices ranging from $3.50 to S4.75.
OF course much stress has been laid
by the manufacturers on the fact that
these scratch feeds are offered as
balanced rations" TO give the hens
variety in their diet, but any poultry
man with half an ounce of brains can
feed his hens superior fare at a
dolla' less per hundredweight. One
feed, for instance, was found to con-
tain 80 pounds of corn, pounds Of
eats, 10 pounds of barley, 30 pounds
Of VIII eat, 3 pounds Of buckwheat and
3 pounds Of kafir corn in every 100
pounds. Another was made up Of 40
pounds Of corn. 10 pounds of barley,
20 pounds of wheat, 10 pounds of kafir
corn and Is pounds of weed seeds.
Still a third was mixture of %
pounds OF corn, 10 pounds Of barley,
80 pounds Of wheat, pounds Of kafir
corn, 10 pounds of weeds and 20
pounds of grit. A fourth contained
So pounds Of corn. - pounds of bar
lev, 10 pounds of wheat and 20 pounds
of weeds. Thus II went through the
whole catalogue of feeds tested.
Some few reliable firms at least
used pure grains. but a majority Of
the brands inspected showed variety
of contents of questionable value.
Forty-nine samples were found to
contain grit. which was being charged
for at the rate of approximately 2
cents a pound. In other samples the
grains used were mostly of inferior
quality and light weight, and in some
cases salvaged grains were substituted
for the sound.
But most Objectionable in a large
number of samples was the presence
of weed seeds, in some cases running
as high as 80 pounds in every hun
dredweight. Among these were many
of poisonous varieties. such as night
shade, ergot and cookie. One sample,
containing night shade, when fed TO
hens on the college farm as an ex-
pertinent resulted in the death Of two
and affected all the others. The fact
that the seeds are always whole and
are therefore not all eaten by the
hens probably accounts for the fewer
fatalities.
The final conclusion drawn from the
inspections was that If poultry men
will buy the whole grain and mix II
at home they will save themselves all
the way from % to 100 per cent I'm
the cost Of their scratch feed and will
I'm addition guard their flocks from
possible injury by poisonous seeds and
other possibly harmful ingredients.
But In any event, where a man in
sIsts on clinging to commercially
mixed varieties. he should be sure at
least that he is buying a feed made
M Of good clean grains. The differ
ence In cost between this kind of a
feed, put up by a reliable firm, and
that containing impurities and pois-
onous weed seeds is so slight that
there is 20 excuse for buying the l0.-
ter.