WHAT AND HOW TO FEED, 377 



flesh-formers. All plants contain the albuminoids in greater or less degree. 

 Orowing animals need a large proportion of albuminoids in their food. These 

 elements go to produce bone and muscle, build up the frame, and because 

 wheat, bran, oats, oil meal and clover hay have a large percentage of albumi- 

 noids they are, as every feeder knovrs, the best food for young growing 

 animals. Again, if you desire milk, rich in caseine, for cheese production, 

 the cows should have food rich in albuminoids. 



2d. The other class of materials is known as carbo-hydrates — the com- 

 pounds resulting from the combining of carbon and oxygen. These maintain 

 the animal heat, supply force, and maintain respiration. Starch and sugar 

 enter largely into their composition. To feed economically we must com- 

 bine these two classes of foods so as to give such rations as will be suited to 

 produce the desired return. 



If we give a young animal more carbonaceous food than is needed to sup- 

 port the system and carry on its functions, the animal will only lay up or 

 make use of so much as is needed with the albuminoids required. In such 

 case the animal is required to masticate and digest food that it cannot assim- 

 ilate. It will not go to the building up of the animal, but is thrown off as 

 waste material. So far as the animal economy is concerned, it has been an 

 injury rather than a benefit. For a practical illustration of this statement, 

 permit me to refer to an experiment reported by a celebrated German authority. 



A cow had been fed for some time, per 1,000 pounds of live weight, with 

 a daily ration consisting of 36 pounds of potatoes, 3| pounds of oil cake, and 

 14 pounds of hay, without a change in her weight. As soon as one pound of 

 oil cake per day had been added, her weight increased rapidly, and within 14 

 days she had gained 91 pounds in weight. The result, says the experimenter, 

 cannot be satisfactorily explained by the mere increased consumption of the 

 14 pounds of oil cake, but it is reasonable to assume that the excess of starch, 

 due to a too liberal use of potatoes, had been turned to a better account for 

 the formation of animal matter — shown by the increase of live weight — in 

 consequence of the addition of a rich nitrogenous article of food like the 

 oil cakes. Instead of passing into the excretions of the animal, where it had 

 been previously recognized, the starch now assisted in the bringing about of 

 the increased live weight. The physiological value of the 14 pounds of oil 

 cake exceeded many times their commercial value. The best results in feed- 

 ing stock can only be secured by taking into the account both standards — the 

 physiological and commercial. • 



The feeding effect of the same substance varies in different combinations. 

 The practical knowledge of details and management needs to be supple- 

 mented by such knowledge of the elements entering into fodders as shall 

 enable us to make the proper combination of foods, or, in other words, 

 a well-balanced ration suited to the wants of our animals. This conclusion, 

 while it may not be expressed by the feeder in these terms, is in harmony 

 with his practical experience. How to combine our coarse, cheap fodder, 

 straw, corn-stalks, hay, ensilage, with the more concentrated foods, as wheat 

 bran, oil meal, corn, and oats, is the problem the thoughtful, progressive 

 and, therefore, successful stockman is trying to solve. Such men in their 

 study and practice are daily gathering the facts that throw light upon this 

 important subject. 



In this connection, permit me to urge the economy of fertilizing lands by 

 the purchase of commercial foods for our animals, rather than by the pur- 



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