354 The Feeding of Animals 



The main facts derived from these feeding trials 

 aiT as follows: 



Number of animals 133 



Average days fed 98.2 



Total average weight of animals 16,400 lbs. 



Average weight single animal 123 ' ' 



Dry matter consumed 51,000 ** 



Digestible organic matter consumed 34,500 " 



Dry matter eaten daily per 1,000 lbs. live wt. . . 31.8 *' 

 Digestible organic matter eaten daily per 1,000 



lbs. live weight 21.5 " 



Daily gain per 1,000 lbs. live weight 3.73 lbs. 



Daily gain per animal .467 ' ' 



The food consumption in this instance of the suc- 

 cessful fattening of lambs is considerably in excess of 

 the German standard; and the amount of food con- 

 sumed is not unusual, though it is stated that in the 

 latter stages of the experiments the animals were 

 crowded to their full capacity. 



If a comparison is made of this experiment with 

 the steer feeding experiments previously cited it be- 

 comes clearly evident that the published feeding stand- 

 ards are not consistent in calling for practically the 

 same quantity of nutrients for the same live weight 

 of the two species. Sheep will consume at least one- 

 quarter more food than steers and lay on Hesli propor- 

 tionately faster. Moreover, sheep appear to make a 

 larger gain in live weight than steers for each unit of 

 nutrients consumed. It may be that the testimonj- of 

 the experiments cited relative to the points under 

 discussion is not a correct expression of the average 

 conditions, but the differences shown are too marked 



