382 



ANNUAL REPORT OP THE 



Off. Doc. 



There are then three items to be deducted in determining the value 

 of a food for producing a return to the owner, viz: Loss by fermen- 

 tation, the production of marsh gas and carbonic acid gas, and the 

 amount of energy used in the mastication and digestion of fiber. The 

 loss by fermentation in the case of ruminants and horses is ap- 

 proximateh' one-fourth of the food value of the digestible carbohy- 

 drates and fiber. The energy required for handling the fiber has 

 a)ready been given as 1200 units for each pound of fiber, equivalent 

 to the value of two-thirds of a pound of digestible starch. 



When these additional deductions are made to the figures already 

 given the account stands as follows: 



c3 

 > 



•a 

 o 

 o 



O 



° 3 



C 



3 



a 

 Q 



0.2 



u 

 <->3 



GRAINS: 



Corn, dent 



Gluten meal 



Wheat bran, 



Oats 



Cottonseed meal, 



COARSE FODDERS: 



Timothy hay, 



Corn stover, 



Oat straw, 



Corn silage, 



S4.2 

 9.3.8 

 E7.5 

 65.9 

 81.5 



52.3 

 35.7 

 41.6 

 13.5 



75.5 

 88. 2 

 .52.3 

 60.0 

 79.1 



47.2 

 31.2 

 36.4 

 12.2 



66.3 

 80.1 

 41.0 

 48.6 

 73.5 



24.2 



15.0 



10.3 



7.1 



Outside of the feeding stuffs that contain considerable oil, the 

 figures obtained after making the deductions have much the same 

 relation to each other as the original gross values, so that in in- 

 stitute work the past winter I have said nothing of the losses that 

 occur and have taken the relative value of the ordinarv feeding stuffs 

 to be represented by the total digestible organic matter. This really 

 makes a very fair basis for comparison between grains of the same 

 general character, but when fodders of different character are com- 

 pared it should be remembered that a pound of digestible material 

 from an oily fodder or one rich in protein has a little higher value 

 than from an ordinary fodder. 



But when one attempts to compare concentrated fodders with 

 coarse fodders it will be noted that the amount deducted from the 

 coarse fodder for waste is much larger proportionately than from 

 the concentrated fodder. It is not correct therefore, to compare con- 

 centrated with coarse fodders on the basis of total digestible mate- 

 rial. A pound of digestible material from a coarse fodder always 



