4SS ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Dor 



sequent weeks llie uost was approximately fit) per lUu pounds, the 

 food fed being the same in kind. The importance of disposing of 

 tinimals promptly when finished is thus apparent. 



The mistake, however, is far more frequently made of selling 

 animals unfinished. Probably 90 per cent, of all the cattle sold 

 reach the block under rather than overfinished. This more than 

 anything else probably is accountable for the too common belief 

 that there is no money in fattening cattle. Sometimes cattle are 

 sold half finished because the price of food has become unduly high. 

 At other times, because sui table food supplies cannot be obtained, 

 but more frequently perhaps, because many do not properly under- 

 stand what good finish in cattle means. 



THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF FOODS. 



When foods are being fed, a due regard must be had to their 

 chemical constituents, which means that a proper relation must 

 obtain between the amount of protein and carbo-hydrates fed under 

 normal conditions of feeding to insure the most satisfactory results. 

 This relation will vary with the animals fed and the objects sought 

 from, feeding them. These varieties cannot be discussed, they are 

 so many. There must also be a certain relation between the amount 

 of concentrates and roughage to bring highest profits. But since 

 this relation is a shifting quantity and is to some extent affected 

 by food values, it also will not be discussed further. 



I call attention to the important fact here, that the real value of a 

 food factor may be more or less in practical feeding than chemistry 

 would assign to it on the basis of food constituents. Two factors 

 at least must be considered in judging of the value of a food in ad- 

 dition to the chemical constituents which it contains: The first is 

 palatability and the second is the influence exerted on the diges- 

 tion. Thus, rye straw, because of its low palatability, has a lower 

 food value than chemistry would assign to it. Animals will not 

 eat it freely unless impelled to do so by hunger. On the other 

 hand, field roots have a higher food value because they favorably 

 influence the digestion. 



The further fact is also significant, that in some instances, foods 

 may be fed at a greater profit when fed out of balance rather than 

 in balance. This is possible when one food is so much cheaper than 

 another, opposite in character, that it may, as it were, be fed in ex- 

 cess. I have fattened lambs at greater profit on a ration not in 

 balance than on one in balance, because of the relative cheapness 

 of corn, a leading factor in the former. In alfalfa areas it also 

 sometimes pays better to feed protein in some excess than to in- 

 cur the cost of securing other foods to balance the ration. 



A MIXED DIET SUPERIOR. 



In feeding animals for a prolonged period, a mixed diet is superior 

 to a ration composed of only one or two food factors. This may, 

 to some extent, be owing to some chemical action which the foods 

 exercise one upon the other in the process of digestion. It is prob- 

 able, however, that it is due more to the influence exercised by the 

 combined foods on the appetite and to the more even balance that 

 is thus likely to be secured in the mixed diet. Animals, like indi- 

 viduals in the human family, tire of one kind of food when fed 

 continuously upon it. To this there may be some few exceptions 



