66 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



of foods that may or may not be suitable and in balance, or 

 from exposure, or from unsuitable feeding combined with 

 undue exposure. 



A calf may be fed food that is just right in its propor- 

 tionate constituents, but if the quantity fed is quite below the 

 needs of the animal, there must, of course, be a corre- 

 sponding deficiency in growth. A habit of digestion will 

 thus be formed which unfits the stomach and digestive 

 apparatus for digesting large quantities of food to the best 

 possible advantage. 



If the foods fed are unsuitable, the loss in capacity 

 for development will be greater, and if they are deficient 

 in quantity, the evil is intensified. Thus it is, that if a 

 young calf is fed for a prolonged period on whole milk, 

 but insufficient in supply, it will be lean and lack growth, 

 but still may retain shapes that are reasonably correct. 

 The relative proportion of bone may be unduly large and 

 the hair may be more than normal in quantity, the outcome 

 probably in both instances of a provision of nature thus 

 to give strength to the ill-covered framework and to pro- 

 vide warmth for it. Should the food be in ill balance, de- 

 velopment will be further arrested. Should it be unsuited 

 to the age of the animal, as when young calves are forced 

 to live largely on grass, unbalanced as well as insufficient 

 development follows. There is undue distension of the 

 stomach at too early an age, resulting in an excess of 

 paunch, which the animal retains through life. 



Should the animal be correctly fed, but unduly ex- 

 posed, development will be proportionately arrested. Should 

 it be fed food under such conditions, correct in balance, 

 but deficient in quantity, the loss in development will be 

 correspondingly more. But if in addition, the food is 

 unbalanced and not adapted to the age of the animal, then 

 development is still more arrested, and in conjunction 

 therewith comes ill-balanced development, that is, undue 

 development of some parts in proportion to development 

 in other parts. A striking illustration is furnished by whey 



