422 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Improving the Ration. Let us try to improve this 

 ration by supplying less of the ingredients and par- 

 ticularly less protein. By consulting Table i we can 

 see that cotton-seed meal has more digestible protein 

 then we reduce our amount of cotton-seed meal to 3 

 then we reduce our amount of cotton seed meal to 3 

 Ibs. Then our ration will be as follows : 



Digestible Digestible Digestible 



Dry Matter Protein Carbohydrates Fat 

 3 Ibs. cotton - seed 



meal 2.754 1.116 0.507 .366 



3 Ibs. wheat bran . 2.643 -366 1.176 .081 

 lolbs. red clover 



hay 8.470 .680 3 .580 .170 



1 5 Ibs. corn stover. 11.580 .420 6.345 .105 



31 Ibs. Total 25.447 2.582 n. 608 .722 



Nutritive 



Ratio 



Improved ration. .. 25.447 2.582 13.232 1:5.1 



Standard 24 2.5 13.4 1:54 



The ration as it now stands approximates the stand- 

 ard. It is close enough to the standard for all prac- 

 tical purposes. 



EXERCISE. Find out from your parents, or some of your neighbors, 

 the rations they are feeding. Choose one of them and improve it. 

 Of course the kind of animal must be considered in the calculation of 

 the ration. 



SECTION LXXI. How TO REDUCE THE COST OF A 



RATION. 



John Smith has a large farm, and he is feeding his 

 fifteen horses, who are doing hard work, the follow- 

 ing ration: 



Digestible Digestible Digestible 

 Dry Matter Protein Carbohydrates Fat 

 8 Ibs. oats 7.120 .736 3-784 0.336 



4 Ibs. shelled corn . 3.576 .312 2.668 0.172 

 6 Ibs. wheat bran . 5.286 .732 2.352 0.162 



10 Ibs. timothy hay 8.680 .280 4-34O 0.140 



28 Ibs. Total 24.662 2.060 13.144 0.810 



Nutritive 

 Ratio 



Ration 24.662 2.060 14-97 1:7.2 



Standard 23 2.3 14.3 i :6 . 2 



