114 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



recommended in these standards. Since protein-rich feeds are usually 

 the highest in price over most of our country, following these standards 

 is usually decidedly uneconomical. Furthermore, in other respects 

 these standards are inaccurate or unsuited to modern American feeding 

 practices and economic conditions. Appreciating the need for accurate, 

 up-to-date standards for the various classes of stock, one of the authors 

 has drawn up the Morrison feeding standards, which are discussed later 

 in this chapter and are given in Appendix Table V. As these standards 

 are based on the many feeding trials carried on in recent years, they 

 furnish much more reliable information on the requirements of the 

 various farm animals than the Wolff -Lehmann standards. 



Altho it is advisable in the actual feeding of stock to follow a modern 

 feeding standard, both students and stockmen should, first of all, 

 familiarize themselves with the Wolff-Lehmann standards because of their 

 historical interest and the great help they have been to animal hus- 

 bandry in the past. Having considered the Wolff-Lehmann standards, 

 one is prepared for the study of the more accurate modern standards 

 discussed later. 



II. CALCULATING RATIONS FOR FARM ANIMALS 



158. General requirements of satisfactory rations, The various feeding 

 standards make recommendations only in regard to the amounts of dry 

 matter, of the various nutrients, and, in the case of the Kellner and 

 Armsby standards, of the net energy which the ration should supply. 

 However, the following highly important factors should also be taken 

 into account in computing rations for farm animals. 



159. Suitability of feeds. The feeds selected for any animal should 

 be such that they will not injure its health or the quality of the product 

 yielded. Feeds which are suited to one class of farm animals may not 

 be adapted to others. Again, a given feed may give satisfactory results 

 when combined with certain other feeds, yet in other combinations it 

 may prove unsatisfactory. A few examples of such conditions are fur- 

 nished in the following: 



Cottonseed meal in moderate amount is an excellent feed for cattle, 

 sheep, and horses, yet it is so frequently poisonous to pigs that feeding 

 the meal, as at present prepared, to these animals cannot be advised. 

 (249) While there is always danger from using feeds damaged by mold, 

 such material may often be eaten with impunity by cattle when it would 

 poison horses or sheep. (397) Timothy hay, which is the standard 

 roughage for the horse, is unsatisfactory for the dairy cow, and may 

 cause serious trouble with sheep, due to its constipating effect. (312) 



Feeding cows a heavy allowance of ground soybeans produces unduly 

 soft butter, while an excess of cocoanut meal makes the butter too hard. 

 (256, 260) Peanuts and soybeans produce soft lard when forming too 

 large a part of the ration of fattenings pigs. (258) 



