AS FODDER POR CATTLE. 123 



by severe indigestion. The albuminoid ratio of this ration is 

 1 to 2"7, which is too rich, as is shown below. 



A carnivorous animal, such as a dog, would in all probability 

 remain healthy on this food, but for a herbivorous one, such as 

 the cow, it certainly is by far too albuminous. 



Fish meal being an animal product contains no starch, as is 

 shown in the analysis, which is the main reason why this ration 

 comes out so rich in albuminoids. It may here be remarked 

 that one great difference between all animal and vegetable pro- 

 ductions is that the former never contain any starch — starch 

 being pvirely a vegetable product. 



The fourth week the herring meal was reduced from 7 to 6 lbs. 

 daily, for the reasons previou,sly stated. The result appears to 

 be that the average yield of milk was reduced four-fifths of a lb. 

 of milk per day from what had been the average of the same 

 animals the week previous with 7 lbs. of meal. Those fed in 

 the ordinary way gave, however, this week the same quantity 

 as the one previous, so that meteorological or other conditions 

 must have been more than usually favourable to the production 

 of milk. These conditions, therefore, seem to point out that the 

 milk during this week was regulated by the available oil and 

 starch in the food, or by the least plentiful ingredient, or, as 

 engineers would say, " the strain which the whole can bear is 

 regulated by the strength of its weakest part." So with any 

 ration of food or foods, their value as meat or milk producers is 

 regulated by the proper balancing of the whole, and not by an 

 excess of any one ingredient. 



At the end of this week I found I had little more herring 

 meal than supply the seven cows for one week at the rate we 

 were going on, and the experiment, to be of any practical value 

 at all, would reqviire to be carried on for some time longer ; so 

 application was made for as much more as would enable it to be 

 carried on for at least a week or two longer. As this meal had 

 to come from Norway, and was likely to be a considerable time 

 before it was delivered, it was thought best to at once reduce 

 the cows to 4 lbs. of herring meal per day, so that what was on 

 hand would be sure to bridge over the interval between then 

 and the new stock arriving, without the necessity of supplying 

 the animals with any other variety of food. Cows in milk 

 generally suffer loss in their milk whenever any change of 

 feeding is introduced, so that by reducing the cows to 4 lbs. 

 daily for two weeks less disturbance was caused than if they 

 had been fed with 6 lbs. for a week and a half, and the remain- 

 ing half week with some other variety of food, if the new supply 

 of fish meal did not come forward till then. It was fortunate 

 this course was adopted, because the new supply did not arrive 

 until the very last day of the second week's feeding at 4 lbs. 



