VALUE OF CACTI A8 FOOD FOR STOCK. 13 



ratio of from about 1 : 5.5 to 1 : 7. If a cow requiring a ration of this 

 kind should eat cactus alone, it would take 160 pounds to furnish the 

 fats and carbohydrates and an additional 240 pounds to furnish 

 sufficient protein, and since to avoid scouring a cow should prob- 

 ably not be fed to exceed 50 or 60 pounds of cactus a day, it may be 

 readily seen how impossible it would be for a milk cow to get even a 

 one-sided ration from cactus alone. 



A ration of 40 pounds of cactus with 10 pounds of wheat bran and 

 12 pounds of corn stover would furnish the nutrients in somewhat 

 near the proper proportion. In a ration of this kind the cow would 

 get 21.16 pounds of organic matter, containing 1.68 pounds of pro- 

 tein, 11.82 pounds of carbohydrates, and 0.49 pound of fat, which is 

 in a ratio of 1 :7.7. 



If a ration is desired in which the cactus is fed with dried brewers' 

 grain and cotton-seed meal, it could be nuide by feeding 60 pounds of 

 cactus with 14 pounds of brewers' grain and 1 pound of cotton-seed 

 meal. In this case 20.58 pounds of organic matter are fed, containing 

 2.85 pounds of protein, 10.38 pounds of carbohydrates, and 1 pound of 

 fat. This ration would contain the nutrients in the ratio of 1 : 4.5. If 

 tliis ration is considered too narrow, it could be widened to good advan- 

 tage by feeding with it a small quantity of coarse, dry fodder, rather 

 than by increasing the amount of cactus. 



A balanced ration of cotton-seed meal and cactus can not be pre- 

 pared, for if the meal be fed in just sufficient quantity to furnish the 

 proteids it would necessitate the feeding of too much cactus to sup- 

 ply the remainder of the carbohydrates. From this it must not be 

 inferred that a mixture of these foods would not make a desirable 

 ration; in fact, current successful practice has demonstrated that it 

 will. For example, a ration of prickly pear and cotton-seed meal was 

 fed to steers for one hundred and five days in a recent experiment 

 conducted by the Bureau of Plant Industry at Encinal, Tex., with a 

 gain of 1| pounds of flesh a day at a cost of only 3 J cents. Any 

 ration of these two foods that would secure this gain each day would 

 contain an excess of the proteids over an amount necessary for a bal- 

 anced ration. Fortunately, however, an excess of proteids can be 

 utilized in serving the function of the carbohydrates in the animal 

 body, and this no doubt is what took place in the above experiment. 

 Usually proteids are the most expensive foods for man and beast, 

 and it is poor economy to substitute them for carbohydrates; yet 

 such a condition is not uncommon in Texas cattle feeding, where 

 cotton-seed meal is cheaper than other more starchy foods. 



102—1 



