264 HOUSE-FEEDING OF CATTLE 



100 represents 4 calories. The equivalent of fat is usually 

 estimated at 225 or 9 calories, and of albumin (proteid) 125 

 or 5 calories, 1 but some investigators assign to it the equivalent 

 of starch. The value of fat in relation to starch is a little more 

 than two and two-tenths greater, and to bring the two 

 materials to the common level of starch, which is the unit 

 basis adopted for carbonaceous food ingredients, it is 

 necessary to multiply the percentage of fat by 2-268. The 

 proteid derived from ordinary cattle foods contains about 

 1 6 per cent, of nitrogen, and the so-called "proteid- value" is 

 ascertained by multiplying the percentage of nitrogen by 

 6-25. It has been demonstrated that some 20 to 30 per cent, 

 of the nitrogen of food is not assimilable by animals, and 

 therefore not in the form of proteid. The test for proteid 

 is that it coagulates in boiling water. Nitrogen compounds 

 that do not digest should consequently be deducted like other 

 indigestible constituents of food in all calculations dealing 

 with nutrition. It must be remembered that proteid is the 

 one essential constituent of food without which animal life 

 cannot be sustained. It must therefore form the basis of 

 all calculations relative to food values. As year by year 

 compounded foods are being more largely employed as 

 feeding stuffs by farmers, the time has come when a standard 

 of valuation for animal food should be determined and legally 

 enforced. The "Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893" 

 gives the farmers the sort of protection in relation to manures 

 which ought to be extended to feeding stuffs to save them 

 from such misrepresentations as are encouraged by the 

 calorific system of valuation. For example, cellulose, which is 

 much employed to mix with compounded foods, possesses a 

 calorific value equal to that of starch without any value what- 

 ever as a nutrient The invoice of purchased foods should 

 indicate the percentage of digestible proteid, carbohydrates, 

 and fat contained in the material to enable the purchaser to 

 judge of its value and suitability for his requirements. 



The following is the table of Food Standards for horned 

 cattle fixed by Dr Emil Wolff, Director of the Hohenheim 

 Experimental Station in Germany : 



1 For a fuller explanation of the terms used in food analyses, the 

 student is referred to Primrose M'ConnelPs Agricultural Note- Book, 

 Crosby, Lockwood, & Son. 



