=Prepared Feeds.= There are many kinds of prepared feeds on the market and I have no right either to knock or to boost them, because I know practically nothing about them. Where there are combination feeds, intended to make a balanced ration, I think the farmer would very likely be paying a good deal for the combining. Where a mill man buys grain from farmers and from those grains prepares feeds that are not by-products of other milling operations, I think the price would be high. I have known farmers to sell alfalfa hay and buy alfalfa meal, but I do not think it pays to do those things. All I would say concerning prepared feeds would be to experiment carefully and to buy them, not on their guaranteed chemical analysis, but on what results they actually show in the milk pail. Some prepared feeds contain oat hulls which are about like wheat straw to digest. Dried sugar beet pulp is a by-product feed containing mostly carbohydrates, and seems to have some benefit as an appetizer. Cattle like it for a change. Where it is not too high and carbohydrate rough feeds are to be purchased, it might be profitable to try it. CHAPTER V. HOW TO FEED =Balanced Ration.= Cattle like variety in their feed. Not all cattle have the same tastes and desires. When one cow refuses to eat her grain, it is well to try her on some other mixture. A good feeder usually has several grain feeds on hand at a time and is continually changing and trying out rations. By checking his results at the pail, he acquires knowledge that is more practical than any chemist can impart. We know that a cow’s food must contain the necessary elements needed for her bodily maintenance and the production of milk. We must supply the substances needed. Rules for figuring values of feeds and examples of balanced rations are given below, but we also let the cow in on the discussion. We should not follow rules so closely that we ignore her likes and dislikes or overlook the results that she puts in the milk pail and the pocket book. There is probably no living creature that has for its natural diet a balanced ration, unless it be a carnivorous animal that eats its prey whole--feathers and all.