THE COMPUTATION OF RATIONS 



705 



The question now is what feeding stuffs is it most economical 

 to buy (or to refrain from selling if in stock) to complete the 

 ration. The first step in deciding this question is to compare 

 the various feeds as sources of energy and see which one fur- 

 nishes a unit of net energy value at the lowest price. This 

 computation gives the following results : 



Evidently, if it were simply a question of supplying energy to 

 the animals, we should use corn meal, since that supplies a unit 

 of energy at a much lower price than any of the other feeding 

 stuffs. If it were thought desirable to add variety to the ration, 

 wheat middlings would obviously be our next choice. 



It is evident, however, without going through the labor of 

 computation, that while corn meal and wheat middlings may 

 be used in the ration, neither will supply enough protein if used 

 exclusively. Of the available feeding stuffs which are rich 

 in protein and which may therefore serve to balance the de- 

 ficiency of this ingredient, gluten meal is relatively the cheapest, 

 and cottonseed meal comes next. While the difference be- 

 tween the two is not great, we shall naturally try the cheaper 

 one. It is not difficult to determine by a few trials that i\ 

 pounds of corn meal and 3-3- pounds of gluten meal, in addi- 

 tion to the coarse fodder available, will give a ration corre- 

 sponding very closely to the requirements, as the following 

 table shows : 



2 z 



