45 



Tai;i,k -i.—Conwarison of digestibility of a 7iiunlicr of d if emit feeding stvffs by ruminants 



and horses — Continue( i . 



As it will be seen in nearly every case the ruminants digested a larger 

 percentage of fat, carbohydrates, and crude fiber than horses, the differ- 

 ences being most marked in the case of the crude fiber. These results, 

 are, it seems fair to say, in accord with what might be expected from 

 differences in the digestive organs of the different classes of animals. 

 The ruminants have an opportunity to chew their food more thoroughlj' 

 than horses and retain it longer in the digestive tract. It is said that 

 on an average horses retain their food 4 days or less; cattle, 3 or 4 to 

 7 or 8 days; sheep or goats from 3 or 4 days with ordinary rations to 

 7 or 8 days when straw is eaten. That the food is actually more finely 

 divided by ruminants in chewing and digesting is indicated by the 

 mechanical condition of the feces; those from horses containing an 

 abundance of fairly large fragments of hay and other coarse fodders, 

 etc., while the feces of cattle commonly contain undigested residue in 

 a finer state of division. In the case of sheep the feces contain the 

 undigested residue in still smaller fragments. It is well known that 

 fineness of division is an important factor in considering the thorough- 

 ness of digestion. The length of time any given food material remains 

 in the digestive tract is also important. It is perhaps generally believed 

 that crude fiber is chiefly digested by the action of bacteria in the 

 intestine and it is obvious that the longer materials remain in the intes- 

 tine the greater the opportunity for the action of such micro-organisms. 

 Weiser and Zalischek," in their investigation of the digestibility of 

 the different constituents of the carbohydrate group, report results 

 obtained with a horse and other farm animals. In nearly every case 

 the rations were made up of different combinations of meadow hay, 

 broom-corn seed, and oats. It is interesting to compare the average 

 digestibility by different farm animals of the constituents into which 



«Loc. cit. 



