130 THE SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



A few years ago Neubauer prepared a graphic table showing at a glance the actual 

 money value of a list of feeding stuffs. The feeding stuff number and the albumen 

 or digestible protein number constituted the basis of the calculations. 



The feeding stuff number or index of a feeding stuff represents the amount of 

 feeding stuff required to furnish a starch value of 100 per cent. Peanut cake, for 

 example, with a starch value of 77.5 per cent, contains, in addition, 45.2 per cent 

 of digestible protein or albumen. Accordingly its feeding stuff index would 

 be 100 X 100 



= 129.0 



77.5 



100X100 



Coarse wheat bran with a starch value of 42.6 = =: 234.7 



42.6 



The albumen index indicates the amount of digestible albumen contained in 100 

 starch values of a given feeding stuff. Peanut cake, for example, contains, in addi- 

 tion to a starch value of 77.5 per cent, digestible albumen to the extent of 45.2 per 

 cent. Its albumen index, therefore, is 45.2 X 100 



= 58.3 



77.5 



The albumen index of wheat bran with a starch value of 42.6 per cent and 9.8 per 

 cent albumen content is 9.8 X 100 And so on for other feeding stuffs. 



= 23. 



42.6 



As will be explained more in detail in the chapter on feed standardization, feeding 

 rations on farms are usually compounded, or should be, as far as possible or prac- 

 ticable, with products of the farm itself. The starch value and the albumen content 

 is ascertained and then an estimate is made of what is lacking to make the ration 

 complete. The deficiency is then corrected by the addition of purchased ingredients. 



To illustrate: 



Swine, during the first fattening period, require, per 1,000 pounds live weight, 

 daily — 3 pounds digestible albumen and 27.5 pounds starch value. 



Farm-grown products will supply — 2,5 pounds digestible albumen, and 25.0 pounds 

 starch value. 



There remains to be supplied by purchase — 0.5 pounds digestible albumen and 2.5 

 pounds starch value. 



0.5 X 100 



The albumen index of the supplementary feed is = 20. 



2.5 



The nutrients which are lacking are rarely supplied by a single feeding stuff, but 

 usually by two or three. If two are decided upon we select one with a lower, an- 

 other with a higher albumen index than the correction requires. 

 To illustrate : If we have the choice of 



Cottonseed meal, with an albumen index of 53.4 



Linseed cake 37.9 



Palmseed cake 18.7 



Feed barley 11.8 



we select the two feeding stuffs best suited for the purpose. The combination sought 

 is one with an albvnnen index of 20 and must therefore be a mixture of two of the 

 available feeding stuffs with a starch value of 100 and an albumen index of 20.1''^ 



Neubauer's "feeding-stuff price chart" is a convenient graphic guide for the selec- 

 tion of the most economical "pair" of feeding stuffs necessary to balance a deficient 

 farm-grown ration. It consists of a single sheet, ruled in millimeter spaces. The 

 verticle base line (ordinate) contains the albumen indices of the various feeding 

 stuffs, expressed in millimeter spaces and extended in parallels to the horizontal base 

 line (abscissa). The feeding stuff index of the feeding stuff in question is noted 



17Since the feeding value of the digestible albumen is included in the starch value, and since 

 one pound of digestible albumen is equal in feeding value to about one (exactly 0.94) pound of 

 starch value, in estimating the value of a feeding stuff or ration we add, for each pound of 

 digestible albumen, not its cost price, but the difference between its cost price and the cost price 

 of one pound of starch value, viz., not 3.25 cents, but the difference between 3.25 cents and 2.50 

 cents, or 0.75 cent, to the cost of each pound of digestible albumen. 



