ECONOMICAL STOCK FEEDING. 



55 



The idea of economical feeding would, of course, carry with it 

 that system and those methods out of which and by which you can 

 secure the best possible results at. the least cost. Tliis is what we, 

 in farming, should always search for, as much as a manufacturer of 

 any product ; and the more of this kind of business we put into 

 our work the better it will be for us. 



In the opening exercises this morning we talked something about 

 building up plants. In this connection we are going to take these 

 plants ;ind make milk, if you say so, or make growth or an}- other 

 product which you desire. It comes fi'om the plant used for food ; 

 the animal simply takes the nutritive material from the food given, 

 masticates it, puts it into a form in which the organs of assimila- 

 tion deposit it, either in the form of growth, fat, milk, wool or any 

 other product which you are after. Now, you see at once that if 

 that nutritive material does not exist in the plant or fodder, the an- 

 imal cannot assimilate it, cannot deposit it in the milk pail, cannot 

 la^- it on its form as fat, cannot clothe its back with it in the form of 

 wool. Your material must exist in the food given or else the an- 

 imal cannot secure it. There are other offices to fill, the animal 

 has to maintain its existence, it has to keep up the animal heat, and 

 it has to supply itself with the force hy which it moves about, works, 

 masticates its fodder, and performs the work of respiration. All 

 of that heat and muscular force come from the food eaten ; and 

 these nutritive materials which are found there adapted to these 

 different kinds of work are the ones which you want to supply to 

 your animal to do that work with ; and, if 3'ou want to do it in the most 

 economical manner possible, you want to give to your animal the 

 right proportion of these different materials, so that they will 

 have enough to do the work which you require of them, and at the 

 same time will not waste an}' part of it. That would be economi- 

 cal feeding. You will see, at once, as the fodders vary in the dif- 

 ferent quantities of the nutritive materials, and the animals which 

 you feed require different proportions for different purposes, that 

 economical feeding, scientific feeding, becomes a complex problem, 

 one requiring very close study, very wide research. A great deal 

 of this research is now being carried on and has been for 3-ears 

 past, yet there is comparatively little that has been accomplished. 

 Still, some things have been established which we can base our 

 practice upon as reliable. 



