70 LIVESTOCK ON THE FARM 



floor, is very rich in protein. The pigs that were able to get 

 the most of this actually got enough to kill them. The same 

 principle applies to all animals. 



Feeding an animal too much protein is similar but much 

 worse than feeding a threshing machine more grain than it 

 can handle. The machine is clogged. So with the animal 

 body. The machinery of metabolism is clogged and the 

 surplus protein material becomes poison. It also seems to 

 be a fact that animals once overfed on protein become more or 

 less permanently injured. 



Protein Feeds. — As said above, all feeds contain more or 

 less of all the principal nutrients. Those feeds which contain 

 considerable protein are classed as protein feeds. There is no 

 fixed law classifying the feeds. But as good a rule as any 

 would be to classify those as protein feeds which furnish as 

 much of this nutrient as the animal needs to supply its needs, 

 or even more than that amount. 



If an animal gets as much of each of the nutrients, protein, 

 carbohydrates, fat, as well as mineral matter and water as it 

 needs for the purpose for which it is being fed, it is said to 

 have a balanced ration. 



The most important home-grown protein feeds available to 

 the farmer may roughly be named as follows : milk, alfalfa, clover, 

 flax, soy beans, cow peas and Canada field peas. Those of a 

 commercial nature are bran, oil meal, tankage, cottonseed meal. 



Alfalfa and clover are roughages or coarse feeds so some- 

 times animals such as growing pigs cannot eat enough of these 

 to furnish the required amount of protein. For mature 

 animals, these feeds furnish too much protein. This fact 

 should be kept in mind in providing pasture for animals. 



CARBOHYDRATES 



Carbohydrate material is the part of a feed or the nutrient 

 like sugar and starch. It is composed of carbon, hydrogen 

 and oxygen. The latter two are always in the proportion in 

 which they combine to make water, namely, two parts of 

 hydrogen to one part of oxygen. Carbohydrate is used in the 

 animal body for furnishing energy and heat, and for making 

 fat. 



