Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 July 1917 — HOME MIXED FEEDS. [ARTICLE]

HOME MIXED FEEDS.

(National-Crop Improvement Service.] When a man undertakes to mix his own rations, what does he do? He buys straight feeds. Take cottonseed meal as a . common example. There are a great many different grades of cottonseed meal, and the man who is looking for a low-ppjced feed is sure to get a low grade. The demand for cheap feeding ingredients has caused the quality to be gradually whittled down. Consequently the farmer nearly always works with feeds which are poorer than he believes them to be. He does not get adequate state protection because inspectors do not go to a farmer’s barn to draw samples, and even if they did, it would be hard to get a complete chain of evidence. A farmer has no facilities for having his feed analyzed and he doesn’t know what he is working with. The analyses of mixed feeds costs about ten cents pgr ton, and if every farmer will read the various bulletins from the agricultural colleges he will soon know those brands which can be depended upon. There is no doubt that at the present prices of grain any farmer can save money by selling his cereal crops and buying mixed feed. Cornmeal, oil meal and cottonseed meal are all high, but the by-products of barley and rye are all more reasonable in price. Corn has become costly largely due to the demand for pork and beef. Americans will have those meats at almost any price. This puts corn on a meat basis, and the dairy business will have to fall back on the by-prod-ucts of grains. .