Charlevoix county herald., 1918-08-16
Farmers Prepare
Own Feed
One Thing That Cooperative
Farming Is Doing In State.

East Lansing, Mich, Aug. 12-Mana-
ger C. H. Beebe of the Tecumseh Co
operative Association sat disconsolately
in his office and watched the dairy feed
prices soar-but not for long. The
"sittin" habit is held in very i'll repute
in Lenawee county, Of which Tecumseh
is communal adornment. When the
aforementioned prices had scared to an
altitude record that would have caused
late unlamented Baron Richtofen to
effervesce at the mouth, the manager
snorted and also rose. His snort was
such one as might have been emitted
by his agricultural forbears when upon
beholding the Redcoats marching up
Lexington way in 1776 they forsook
their plows to grab their muskets.
1t should be explained that Tecumseh
is in dairy district-and the new feed
prices, quite naturally, brought some-
thing akin to CONSERVATION even to the
most efficient of Lenawee milk pro-
ducers.
"This will never do" the manager
was heard to remark decisively. Forth
with was born the idea which in
Tecumseh, at least, is tending to make
the dairy feed problem somewhat less
menacing.
Lets make up our own feed" sug-
gested Manager Beebe Tor maybe it
was the president or some mere men,
Der of the association, but the essential
fact is that the suggestion was made,
and acted upon.)
II may be illuminating here to insert
word about the Tecumseh Coopera-
tive association on which Mr.. Beebe is
the business head.
AS its name discloses, it is a coopera-
tive body with which about 400 Lena
wee county farmers are affiliated, and
from which they derive such manifold
benefits as accrue to those who have
discovered the value of cooperative
buying and selling.
Of course when such an organization
says eve will make our own feed" I"
feed is usually made forthwith. But
let Manager Beebe tell about it.
"Our dairymen," said the manager,
"have of late months been confronted
by two serious problems. In the first
place, the prices of dairy feeds have
risen to point where they must be
looked upon with the awe due those
who perch in high places. Secondly,
our dairymen have never been abso-
lutely sure that even after they have
paid the luxurious prices being asked
they will secure standard feed free
from chaff and filters
at was only natural that we should
decide to try our hand at mixing and
marketing feed of our own and that is
what we are doing. In order to make
sure that we weren't going wrong, we
sent committee to M. A. c., and this
committee, working with the dairy de-
partment of the college, worked out a
standard feed mixture averaging from
81 to % per cent protein-ipcluding
such ingredients as bran middlings,
ground oats, gluten, cottonseed meal,
oil meal, hominy and one per cent salt.
1--WE are having these mixed for us
in Chicago from the pure grain, and
upon being received by us here the
mixed feed is being distributed at cost
to our members and to other coopera-
tive associations in southern Michigan.
In place of a high-priced product of un-
certain quality our dairymen are now
being provided with a standard product
at moderate price,"
This price, according to quotations
from Tecumseh, is $3.50 ton in bulk,
with charge of IS more if sacked.
Commercial feeds of the same quality
are selling from $65 to $40 ton, which
means that the Tecumseh farmers stand
well in the way of saving from 10 to 20
per cent of their feed costs through
their new venture
This feed is intended to be used with
such roughages as corn stover and mix.
ed hay and silage; or IL the dairyman
has clover hay, alfalfa and silage,
ground corn and oats could be mixed
with the dairy feed at the rate of two.
thirds dairy feed to one-third ground
oats and corn. Without silage, little
additional meal can be used. The feed
itself, of course, is intended by the
association to be fed in the same pro
portions as such dairy feeds are al
ways fed.
Meanwhile, while feed prices are still
clinging to the high spots with the
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