FEEDS FOR ANIMALS 75 



of milk on account of its high pricc^, some other material 

 containing fat must be substituted. 



Concentration of Fat. — One of the principal characteristics 

 of fat as a feed is its concentration. A given amount of fat 

 will yield two and one-fourth times as much energy or heat or 

 allow the animal to make two and one-fourth times as much 

 fat on its body as an equal amount of carbohydrate. Thus 

 when an animal is on a fasting diet, which means that it isn't 

 being fed anything, it is using the fat from the body to yield 

 energy and heat, and a small quantity goes a long way. So 

 also a man who is putting in long hours at hard labor can get 

 along better by eating considerable fat. In this way he can 

 carry with him, in his stomach, a larger supply of energy and 

 can work longer without getting hungry or tired. 



The poor people in various sections of the world, as, for 

 example, the southern part of the United States or parts of 

 continental Europe, who are too poor to buy the high-priced 

 lean meat, buy the cheaper fat meat. A pound of fat pork 

 can be bought for less money than a pound of lean meat and 

 it is worth as much as two and one-fourth pounds of the latter 

 on an equal basis of dry matter for heat, fat and energy 

 production. But lean, meat always contains much more 

 water than fat meat. Thus the poor man who buys fat meat 

 gets three or four times as much for his money as the more 

 wealthy individual who buys lean meat. 



In feeding farm animals the fat part of the ration is too 

 frequentlj^ overlooked. While in the ordinary feeding tables 

 there is no separate classification of fat feeds, there are some 

 of the protein as well as carbohydrate feeds that are rich in 

 fat. By a proper selection of feeds, therefore, this part of 

 the ration can be pretty well controlled. 



Fat Feeds. — The natural farm feeds rich in fat are flax, 

 so}^ beans, whole milk, corn and oats. The first two are espe- 

 cially valuable from this standpoint. They are also protein 

 feeds. These two feeds should be used in limited quantities 

 on account of their protein content as well as their fat content. 

 The former is more harmful than the latter when fed in excess. 

 When too much fat is fed the material simply passes out in 

 the form of scours. This, as everyone knows, is harmful. 



