604 NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



on cattle and sheep and Jordan and Hall l have made similar 

 comparisons of nine American experiments. 



On the basis of comparisons of this sort it has been generally 

 considered that digestion coefficients obtained with one species 

 of ruminants may be applied to others without material error 

 and the sheep or goat has been the favorite experimental an- 

 imal. Such direct evidence as is available, however, leads to 

 some modification of this conclusion. 



Comparisons of the digestive powers of cattle and sheep for 

 identical feeding stuffs have been reported by Frear, 2 the Missis- 

 sippi Station, 3 Bartlett, 4 Kellner, 5 Tangl and Weiser, 6 Zuntz, 7 

 and Voltz. 8 . 



The experimental results, while not extensive and not al- 

 together consistent, seem, when taken in connection with the 

 general comparisons previously made, to warrant the conclu- 

 sion that as regards the better grades of roughages the differ- 

 ence in digestive power between cattle and sheep is not marked 

 and, with the exception of Zuntz's rather remarkable results, 

 the same would seem to be the case as regards concentrates. 

 On the other hand, it would appear that in the case of the coarser 

 and less digestible forms of forage a distinct difference exists in 

 favor of cattle. Kellner is inclined to ascribe this difference to 

 the greater percentage of water in the contents of the lower 

 intestine of cattle as compared with sheep, which favors a more 

 extensive action of the organized ferments. 



715. The horse compared with ruminants. A number of 

 comparisons have been made of the digestibility of identical 

 feeding stuffs by horses and by sheep as representing ruminant 

 animals. The most extensive trials of this sort were made by 

 Wolff 9 in Hohenheim from 1877 to 1884 but Tangl and Weiser 10 

 have also compared the digestibility of several samples of 

 hay by horses and by sheep or cattle and Langworthy 11 has 

 compiled the results of a large number of digestion experiments 



1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas., Bui. 77 (1900), 90. 



2 Penna. Expt. Sta., Rep. 1890, 58. 3 Eighth Rpt. (1895), 79. 



4 Maine Expt. Sta., Bui. no (1904). 6 Landw. Vers. Stat., 63 (1906), 313. 



6 Landw. Jahrb., 35 (1906), 205. 



7 Jahrb. Ver. Spiritus Fabrikanten in Deutschland, XII (1912), 324. 



8 Landw. Jahrb., 45 (1913), 422. 



9 Grundlagen fur die rationelle Fiitterung des Pferdes, 1886. 

 10 Landw. Jahrb., 35 (1905), 159. 



" U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas., Bui. 125, p. 44. 



