214 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



CHAPTER XL.— Selecting Stock Foods 



205. Different Animals Require Different Foods. — 

 The art of stock feeding does ruot consist simply in 

 mixing certain proportions of digestible nutrients.. The 

 ration may contain the proper proportions of digestible 

 nutrients, and yet be unfit for food. The taste of the 

 animal fed must be considered. Different kinds of 

 animals differ in their tastes for foods much as human 

 beings do. The cow eats readily food that a horse will 

 not touch, and the pig eats food that would be refused 

 by either the cow or horse. The art of stock feeding 

 consists in supplying animals not only the proper 

 amounts of food, but also the proper kinds of food as 

 well. 



206. Volume of Food. — Besides the digestible por- 

 tions of the food, all animals require a certain volume 

 of indigestible food. Nature has provided that they 

 digest only a part of their food, and pass the undigested 

 portion off as manure. It is possible to feed animals 

 with certain foods all of which they can digest, and vet 

 find that they do not do well on such a ration. Such 

 foods are soon digested, leaving the stomach and intes- 

 tines practically empty, and this condition of things is 

 not good for the animal. Cattle, especially, require 

 large amounts of food, as their stomachs are very large. 

 The stomach of an ox is divided into four compart- 

 ments, all of which together hold about 250 quarts. 

 The stomach of the horse is much smaller, holding 



