416 



NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



fact shown in Chapter IX (435) that more or less storage 

 of ash elements may occur even in the mature animal points 

 in the same direction. The organism appears far less sensitive 

 to fluctuations of its daily supply of ash than to those of the 

 organic nutrients because it has relatively a much larger re- 

 serve to draw upon. 



494. Total retention during growth. Some notion of the 

 total amounts of mineral elements assimilated during growth 

 may be secured by computing from Lawes and Gilbert's anal- 

 yses of the ash of the entire bodies of farm animals the 

 weights of each ash ingredient contained in them. Thus if 

 the live weight at one year old be assumed to be for cattle 400 

 kilograms (880 pounds) and for sheep 50 kilograms (no pounds) 

 and for a six: months' old pig 50 kilograms, then, applying the 

 analyses of the half-fat ox, store sheep and store pig respectively, 

 the total amounts of mineral elements in the bodies and the 

 average daily retention per head (including the stock con- 

 tained in the bodies at birth in the case of the sheep and pig) 

 would be as follows : 



TABLE 104. TOTAL RETENTION or ASH INGREDIENTS DURING GROWTH 



