202 DESCRIPTION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



cates that this practice is both economical and profitable. The diet 

 apparently does not injure the health of the animals, nor impair 

 the healthfulness of the resulting products." 15 



Coconut meal is used as a stock feed in this country very little 

 except on the Pacific coast. It is relatively low in protein, fat, and 

 fiber, its composition being about as follows: 20 per cent protein, 

 6 to 8 per cent fat, 9 to 10 per cent fiber, and 6 per cent ash. 



According to digestion experiments conducted at the Massa- 

 chusetts station, 16 the protein is 90 per cent digestible, the fat 

 wholly digestible, and the nitrogen-free extract 87 per cent digesti- 

 ble. As the price of coconut meal is generally but slightly higher 

 than wheat bran, it is, as a rule, a more economical concentrate 

 than this feed, especially for dairy cows, but it cannot be fed in as 

 large amounts as wheat bran, nor can it be kept more than a few 

 weeks in warm weather on account of its tendency to turn rancid. 



Fresh coconut meal has a pleasant, aromatic flavor and is 

 greatly relished by cattle and other stock; two to three pounds 

 daily is a fair allowance for cattle. It should be fed mixed with 

 other concentrates. 



Soybean meal is the ground residue obtained in the manu- 

 facture of soybean oil. The meal fed in this country is imported 

 from either Japan, China, or Manchuria ; so far as is known, none 

 is manufactured here, although soybeans are now grown quite exten- 

 sively in various sections of the United States. It is a valuable 

 concentrate for farm stock, and is one of the richest nitrogenous 

 feeds on the market, containing about as much protein and fat as 

 cotton-seed meal (41.4 per cent and 7.2 per cent, respectively) ; 

 it has a lower fiber content (5.3 per cent) and a higher digestibility 

 than this meal. According to Kellner, only 3.4 per cent of the 

 protein is present in amide form, and the protein has a digesti- 

 bility of 97.7 per cent. The soybean meal is, therefore, a highly 

 digestible feed, well adapted for feeding young stock, dairy cows, 

 steers, and other farm animals. It is fed in this country almost 

 entirely on the Pacific coast, where it is used largely for poultry 

 feeding. It makes a good substitute for linseed meal, pound for 

 pound, for dairy cows, and is one of the most promising concen- 

 trates available for stock feeding; the only objection to its use, so 

 far as is known, is its cost, which is, as a rule, considerably above 

 that of linseed meal or cotton-seed meal. 



1G Loc. cit. lc Bulletin 152. 



