DAIRY MEETING. I23 



amounts of the various nutrients digestible in the different 

 foods. 



Nutritive ratio is a term you have often heard used and may- 

 be most of you know what it means and how it is obtained, but 

 I think perhaps, although many of you have seen and used the 

 term, you may not know its full significance. A "nutritive 

 ratio" is simply an expression of the amount of digestible 

 carbohydrates and fat, or energy material, in a feed or a ration 

 to one part of digestible protein. That is, a nutritive ratio of 

 1 :6 means that there are six pounds of digestible carbohy- 

 drates and fat to every pound of digestible protein. To illus- 

 trate, suppose that a ration or feed is used that contains two 

 pounds of digestible protein and twelve pounds of digestible 

 carbohydrates and fat (the per cent of fat is multiplied by 2 1-4 

 and added to the carbohydrates), the proportion ratio would 

 be as 2 is to 12, which is equal to a nutritive ratio of i to 6 or 

 one part of protein to six of carbohydrate and fat material. 

 Nutritive ratios are termed wide, medium or narrow, depend- 

 ing on the proportion of protein to the other materials, i to 3 

 TS a narrow ratio; i to 6 medium; i to 10 a rather wide ratio 

 for rations for dairy purposes. 



PRACTICAL FKEDING. 



You may have become wearied somewhat from the more or 

 less technical part of this paper I have given and wonder of 

 what practical benefit it can be to you. You have probably all 

 heard many times of a balanced ration and perhaps you may all 

 know how to figure one out, but at any rate there are some 

 people in the State, if none are in this audience, who are not 

 yet familiar with the method as letters very frecjuently come 

 to the Station, with a list of feeds, asking how to mix them to 

 make a balanced ration. 



There is ample opportunity now with all the tables and liter- 

 ature in books on agriculture, station bulletins, etc., that have 

 been published on the subject, for anyone who has a knowledge 

 of common school arithmetic to easily figure rations for him- 

 self and it is for this reason I have called your attention to the 

 subject. Some one may inquire what is a balanced ration? It 



