160 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



middlings sometimes suffer from * ' bran disease, ' ' 10 which seriously affects 

 their bones. Therefore, whenever a large allowance of bran is fed, it is 

 important that plenty of lime be furnished in the ration, either thru 

 using legume roughage, such as alfalfa or clover, or by adding lime in 

 such forms as ground lime stone, wood ashes, bone meal, or ground rock 

 phosphate (floats). 



Knowing the properties of bran, one is in position to use this most 

 valuable feed advantageously. As bran is ordinarily too expensive to be 

 used as the sole concentrate for farm animals, it should be mixed with 

 other concentrates to lighten the ration or add bulk, while improving its 

 nutritive qualities. Fairly high in protein and rich in phosphorus, it 

 serves its highest purpose in giving virility to the animal and in helping 

 build bone and muscle without tending to fatten, thus being especially 

 suited to young animals whose digestive capacities are sufficiently de- 

 veloped for this bulky feed. (523, 681, 894) Both on account of its high 

 content of crude protein and phosphorus and because of its laxative 

 action, bran is of great value for pregnant mares, cows, ewes, and sows. 

 (514, 662-3, 883, 1018) 



Bran is a most excellent feed for the dairy cow, being slightly laxative, 

 giving bulk to the ration, and providing the crude protein and phos- 

 phorus so vital to the formation of milk. (588) It is a useful feed for 

 horses, especially on idle days, because of its bulk and its laxative effect. 

 It is frequently supplied at least once a week in the form of a bran mash, 

 wet or steamed. Bran is too bulky a feed and too laxative to form a large 

 part of the ration for horses at hard work. (456, 485) Being bulky, 

 bran is often mixed with corn and other heavy concentrates for starting 

 fattening cattle or sheep on feed. (756, 856) Tho too bulky for pigs, it 

 is often used as part of the ration for brood sows. (972, 1013) 



Due to its widespread popularity, bran is sometimes high in price com- 

 pared with other nitrogenous concentrates which can be used with equally 

 good results and many of which carry more protein than does bran. 



219. Bed dog flour. Red dog flour, or dark feeding flour, generally 

 contains considerable of the wheat germs and is therefore rich in crude 

 protein and fat. Such flour differs but little in composition and feeding 

 value from the best flour middlings. (971) 



220. Wheat middlings. Middlings vary in quality from red dog flour, 

 which contains considerable flour, to standard middlings, or shorts, which 

 may contain but little flour. To some extent standard or brown mid- 

 dlings and shorts are interchangeable terms. Standard wheat middlings 

 should comprise the finer bran particles with a little flour adhering and 

 with portions of the germs. Sometimes there are added ground-over bran 

 and the sweepings and dirt of the mills, along with ground or unground 

 weed seeds. Flour or white middlings are of somewhat higher grade than 

 standard middlings, containing considerable low-grade flour and carrying 

 slightly more crude protein and less fiber. Because flour middlings are 



"Law's Vet. Medicine, III, p. 572. 



