The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1919-01-24
NO BEST FEEDS
FOR Hen FLOCKS
Simplest Mixtures and Home
Grown Grains Should Usual
Iy Be Selected.
GREEN FEED IS IMPORTANT
PouItryman Should Provide Bulk and
PalatabiIity in Daily Diet-Ground
Grains and Beef Scrap in
Combination.

There is no best feed or combina-
tion of feeds for poultry, but results
in good yields depend almost as much
upon the ability of the feeder and the
methods of feeding as on the kinds of
grains, say poultry specialists of the
United States department of agricul-
ture. The practical application of sci
ence in poultry feeding, they add, is
to know about what proportion of pro-
tein, carbohydrates and fats gives good
feeding results and then to use rough
ly this relative proportion in making
feeds according to their price and
palatability, and in winter green
feed, are necessary in the ration to
give good results.
The simplest feed mixtures and
homegrown grains should usually be
selected, the rations varying with
changes in the market price of the
grains. 1t is advisable for most poul-
try raisers to mix their own feeds, as
in this way they can control the pro-
portion of the various ingredients and
obtain the precise mixture that they
desire. If, however, one desires to
purchase prepared feeds, information
concerning the different commercial
articles may usually be secured from
the state experiment station. Most ex-
pertinent stations will analyZe poul-
try feeds and report on the different
commercial preparations sold by deal
ers in their states.
Five Glasses Of Feeds.
Poultry feeds may be divided for
convenience into five general classes:
First, grains, both whole and cracked;
second, ground grains, fed in the form
Of mash; third, meat feeds; fourth,
mineral feeds; and fifth, green feeds.
Corn, cracked corn, wheat and wheat
screenings, oats, barley, rye, and buck
wheat are the principal grains, while
Of the ground feeds there are corn
meal and corn chop, corn and cob meal,
wheat bran, middlings, shorts and low
grade -four, oatmeal, oat flour and
ground or crushed oats, and mixed
feeds. In the meat feeds, or feeds sup
plying animal protein, are beef scrap,
6sh scrap, meat meal, ground green
bone, and various forms of milk while
bone meal, dry bone, oyster shells, and
grit make up the mineral feeds and,
with charcoal and green feeds, COM
plete the common feeding materials.
Many ground feeds, which are by
products of the common grains, are
used to good advantage in feeding, in
combination with grain and beef scrap.
Ground grains and meat feeds are
more forcing than the whole grains
commonly used, while the combination
Of the whole grains with the ground
feeds makes more economical feed
and better balanced ration than the
whole grains alone. The feed ele-
ments are usually cheaper in the
ground thsn in the whole grains, as
the former are by-products of many
Of the grains used for human consump-
tion. Ground grains and beef scrap,
In combination, either wet or dry,
make what is called a "mash." These
by-products are higher in protein than
most Of the common grains, so that
4 balanced ration is secured by COM
bining whole grains with the mash.
Some of the ground grains, such as
sran and middlings, add large peI-
entage of bulk to the ration, which Is
'eneficial.
aniInnI ~-otein is considered essen-