32 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



rations for the two lots were reversed. The steers changed from ground 

 corn to whole corn showed a strong dislike for the new ration, eating 

 so little at first that they shrank materially in weight. From this the 

 general conclusion might have been drawn that shelled corn is less 

 palatable than ground corn for fattening steers. But the steers given 

 ground corn in place of shelled corn were equally dissatisfied. This 

 shows that custom and habit may be important factors in making a 

 certain feed palatable or unpalatable to any animal. 



While palatability may increase the digestibility and consequently the 

 nutritive value of a given feed, it does not follow that feeds are nutri- 

 tious or beneficial merely because they are palatable. Humans and 

 animals often show fondness for kinds of food that are indigestible or 

 worse. Even poisonous substances may be palatable. For example, 

 while cottonseed meal is an excellent feed for most classes of stock when 

 fed in proper amounts, it is strikingly poisonous to pigs, even tho it is 

 palatable to them. (249) On the other hand, food which the human or 

 animal does not relish or even dislikes may have high nutritive value 

 provided their repugnance for it is overcome. Often by mixing a limited 

 amount of poorly-liked feed with some palatable feed, the animals may 

 be induced to eat the entire mixture readily. 



Tho the question of palatability is more or less complicated, every prac- 

 tical stockman realizes the importance of providing for his animals feed 

 which is palatable. This may be accomplished largely thru the feeding 

 of balanced rations made from feeds suitable for the given class of 

 animals, and in always avoiding sudden and violent changes in the 

 character of the ration and in the manner of feeding. It is especially 

 important to supply palatable feed to animals which are being fed for 

 high production whether of meat, milk, or work. For animals which 

 are merely being maintained, such as idle horses, or else steers being car- 

 ried over winter to be fattened on grass the next season, it is commonly 

 most economical to use largely such coarse and less palatable feeds 

 as straw and stover. 



III. METABOLISM 



In the preceding division we learned how digestion prepares the nu- 

 trients of feeding stuffs for the nourishment of the animal body. In what 

 follows there is briefly set forth how the digested materials are brought 

 into the body proper and what becomes of them. Chemists and phys- 

 iologists, working together with skill and great patience, have been able 

 quite fully to set forth and explain the processes of digestion. When 

 the nutrients leave the alimentary tract and enter the body, the difficulties 

 of following them and learning what becomes of them are much greater. 

 Many of the changes that occur in the body have been revealed by per- 

 severing scientists, but concerning others, only little of a definite nature 

 can yet be told. 



