FEEDING FOR MEAT 367 



digestion are the main points to be secured, and these 

 factors have been somewhat overshadowed by the effort 

 to secure merely a definite nutritive ratio. 



It need not be feared that when mixed cereal grains 

 are fed as the major part of the ration, there will be 

 a materially lower rate of digestibility than when a 

 protein food is introduced. There is still something to 

 be said, however, in favor of adding to a fattening-ration 

 a small proportion of an oil meal, or of some material 

 of similar character, for palatableness is thus promoted, 

 and observations show, in many instances, that an 

 appearance of greater thrift and vigor is thus induced, 

 which is perhaps due to the stimulating effect of the 

 greater amount of circulatory protein upon the metabolic 

 processes of the animal. With young steers making some 

 growth of bone and muscle, a small quantity of a protein 

 food is of unquestioned advantage. 



464. German fattening for bovines' ration excessive. 

 The German standard for fattening cattle is open to 

 criticism as to the quantity of nutrients recommended 

 for 1,000 pounds of live weight. In order to supply 18.4 

 pounds of digestible organic matter it would be neces- 

 sary to feed, for instance, 8 pounds of hay and 21.5 pounds 

 of an ordinary mixture of corn meal, bran, and oil meal. 

 While it may be possible to induce young steers weigh- 

 ing from 600 to 800 pounds to eat at this rate for a short 

 time, so large a ration is seldom, if ever, so profitable as 

 a smaller one, even if it could be fed with safety. If an 

 attempt were made, however, to apply this formula to 

 mature steers weighing from 1,300 to 1,500 pounds the 

 situation would become absurd, because the ration would 

 then be from 10.5 to 12 pounds of hay and from 25 to 32 

 pounds of mixed grains for a single animal. An appeal 



