512 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



has been shown that the expenditure of energy on coarse fodder is greater than 

 on grain. It seems plausible to suppose, as Armsby suggests, that this increase 

 in expenditure is due, in part at least, to the greater per cent of crude fiber 

 in the fodder. Certainly looking at the matter from the standpoint of the meta- 

 bolic products in the feces, it seems highly probable that foods containing a 

 higher per cent of crude fiber are digested at greater expense than foods with 

 less crude fiber. There may be, however, other points to modify the above and 

 it was to observe its effect as well as to note the general influence of succulence 

 that the experiments recorded herein were undertaken. 



For the last few years sugar beet pulp has been available to feeders in this 

 State and it was decided to use this product in determining the effect of succu- 

 lence on metabolism and on the various factors of digestibility in an otherwise 

 dry ration Accordingly, in the winter of 1902-03 two young Jersey heifers were 

 selected from the college herd, through the courtesy of Professor Shaw, and fed 

 on the following rations during a period of three months. The basal ration 

 consisted of clover hay, oat straw, bran and corn and cob meal, compounded in 

 such a proportion that the nutritive ratio of the same was 1 to 12.2. By pre- 

 liminary feeding it was found to be possible to keep the animals approximately 

 in maintenance on a ration of the above ratio and at the Same time a possible 

 error when changing later to sugar beet pulp was avoided. The sugar beet pulp 

 used in the experiment had a nutritive ratio throughout of 1 to 12.2. The 

 observation periods were four in number, each period being preceded by a pre- 

 liminary feeding period of at least two weeks. During this preliminary period 

 the animals were allowed some exercise except for the last few days, and it was 

 not found difficult to accustom the animals to the new food during this prelim- 

 inary feeding. During the actual observation period the animals were under ob- 

 servation night and day, during which time the food and excrement were weighed, 

 sampled and analyzed daily. To avoid chance of variation in weight of the food 

 from day to day, due to variations in the hygrometric state of the atmosphere, 

 the food for the entire period was compounded, weighed, sampled and put in 

 paper sacks at the beginning of the experiment. The feeding problem was thus 

 rendered very simple, for at each meal it was only necesasry to take a sack 

 from its place and give the animal its contents. Any uneaten residues were 

 weighed and sampled daily. 



During the first period the two animals were kept simply on the basal ration. 

 At the end of the first period, which lasted seven days, the animals were given 

 some exercise and the ration gradually changed. Wet sugar beet pulp was now 

 introduced and the dry matter of the basal ration was reduced by just the 

 amount of dry matter in the beet pulp. The nutritive ratio remained constant 

 throughout. With a preliminary period of two weeks on this new food the 

 animals were again placed under observation as in period one. The same pro- 

 cedure was followed in period three, except that the basal ration remained the 

 same as in period two and the amount of sugar beet pulp was raised, giving the 

 animals as much as they would consume. The purpose of this third period was 

 to determine the effect of a full ration in comparison with a maintenance ration. 

 Period four was the same as period one, namely, simply the basal ration without 

 succulent feed 



The experiment was repeated during the winter of 1903-4 with two young 

 Jersey heifers, not the same as those used in the previous year. The only differ- 

 ence between the two experiments was in period four. In this latter experiment 

 instead of returning in period four to the conditions as in period one, the animals 

 were given dried sugar beet pulp instead of wet sugar beet pulp, the dry matter 

 and nutritive ratio being the same as in periods one and two. The object of 

 this last experiment was to eliminate the possible effect of a variation in crude 

 fiber. It will be noticed that by placing sugar beet pulp dry in the ration instead 

 of sugar beet pulp wet, as in period two, we secure all of the conditions the same 

 as in period two, with the exception of the factor of succulence. It is difllicult 

 to prove tv?o unknown factors in an experiment and thus it was decided to 

 eliminate one of them and confine the experiment entirely to the effect of 

 succulence. 



