38 THE STOCKFEEDER'S COMPANION 



they have the power of giving heat and energy to 

 the animal body, the nitrogen leaving the body in the 

 urine in the form of urea. 



Crude Fibre. This is sometimes called woody fibre, 

 and is generally present to a large extent in what are 

 called " bulky fodders." Ruminants have considerable 

 powers of digesting fibre, due partly to the length of 

 time the food remains in the system, as well as to the 

 presence and activity of considerable numbers of 

 bacteria in the alimentary canal, which attack the 

 fibre, thus rendering a portion of it available for 

 nutrition purposes. 



During the bacterial digestion of fibre, part of it 

 escapes from the body in the form of gases, such as 

 carbon dioxide gas (CO 2 ), marsh gas (CH 4 ), and 

 hydrogen (H 2 ). These leave the body chiefly in the 

 breath. Further, it appears that the energy derived 

 from the digestible fibre is chiefly available in the form 

 of heat, and has little value for production purposes. 



The fibre in bulky foods requires a large amount 

 of energy for mastication and digestion, and it is not 

 difficult to understand that the previous grinding of 

 fibrous foods by machinery into a fine state of division 

 diminishes considerably the amount of energy required 

 by the animal for mastication, and at the same time 

 increases its digestibility, inasmuch as it is more easily 

 attacked by the digestive agents. Warington points 

 out that the undigested part of the fibre is richer in 

 carbon than the digested. 



It may therefore be taken that the chief function of 

 the digested fibre, apart from its bulk, is to produce 

 heat. Non-ruminants have much smaller powers of 

 digesting fibrous foods, but the horse, on account of the 

 large capacity of its intestines, digests it fairly well. 



