PHAPTER XXXVII 

 BALANCED RATIONS AND FEEDING STANDARDS 



The food which is fed to an animal daily is called its ration. 

 The digestible elements in the food are called nvtrients. When 

 the different digestible nutrients are in the right proportions to 

 meet the needs of the body under a given condition without 

 excessive waste, the ration is said to be in balance, that is, 

 it is a balanced ration. A balanced ration may consist of a 

 single food, but it is usually a mixture of two or more. 



It has been found that in a ration there does not need to be 

 30 much protein as carbohydrates and fat. The proportion 

 of these nutrients varies according to the purpose of feeding. 

 If milch cows are being fed, the proportion of protein to car- 

 bohydrates and fat is larger than if fattening steers are being 

 fed. The proportion of digestible protein to digestible carbo- 

 hydrates and fat is called the nutritive ratio. When the pro- 

 portion of protein is large the nutritive ratio is said to be 

 narrow. When it is small the ratio is wide; and when the 

 proportion is medium the ratio is said to be medium. 



To determine the nutritive ratio of a feed or a mixture we 

 multiply the digestible fat by 2.25, because it has been found 

 that fat will produce 2.25 times as much heat as carbohy- 

 drates, and add the product to the digestible carbohydrates. 

 This sum is then divided by the digestible protein in the 

 foods and the quotient placed as the second term in a ratio 



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