692 NUTRITION OF FARM ANIMALS 



percentage of his overhead costs, even at the risk of some loss 

 of efficiency in the manufacturing process. In the contrary case, 

 he might find it necessary to run considerably below his max- 

 imum capacity in order to tide over a bad season. In somewhat 

 similar fashion it is necessary for the stock feeder to adapt his 

 rations to the economic conditions under which he works. While 

 the animal cannot be handled like a machine in a factory, never- 

 theless, as has appeared in previous chapters, it shows a large 

 degree of flexibility in its requirements both quantitatively and 

 qualitatively. No single fixed standard is either physiologically 

 or economically necessary for productive feeding. 



795. The feeder's problem. As the feeder looks at his 

 animals, the problem which they present is a threefold one. 



First, he must furnish them with sufficient repair material 

 and energy to keep the body machinery running, i.e., he must 

 supply a maintenance ration. The requirements for this pur- 

 pose, although subject to individual variations, have been 

 worked out with some degree of accuracy and this part of his 

 problem is relatively simple. 



Second, in addition to a maintenance ration, he must supply 

 his animals with the amounts of matter and of energy necessary 

 for the production of the meat, milk or work which he desires 

 them to yield. Here his task is much less simple. 



It is evident in the first place, as has been emphasized in 

 previous chapters, that the producing capacity of the animal 

 is the prime factor in the problem. No argument is necessary 

 to show that a cow producing thirty pounds of milk daily re- 

 quires a greater addition to her maintenance ration than does 

 one having a capacity of only fifteen pounds, or that a steer 

 which can gain three pounds daily needs more surplus feed than 

 one capable of making only one pound of gain. Good business 

 economy demands that the better animal be given feed sufficient 

 in amount and kind to permit its producing capacity to be 

 fully utilized, thus reducing the relative cost of maintenance. 

 On the other hand, it would be an obvious waste to give a 

 mediocre or poor producer a ration adequate for two or three 

 times the production of which it is capable. 



Third, the feeder, like the manufacturer, must adapt his prac- 

 tice to market conditions. As prices of feeding stuffs fall and 

 those of animal products rise, he will tend to feed more in- 



