128 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



on development in ntero. if a dam in low flesh at concep- 

 tion is brought into high flesh before the time of parturi- 

 tion by feeding foods highly carbonaceous, such foods will 

 be adverse to development in the foetus. The same con- 

 dition of flesh can be attained by feeding succulent foods 

 in balance without injury to the foetus, but a longer time 

 is required to produce such a result. 



The extent to which nutriment in the food will be di- 

 verted from the dam to the foetus is not governed alone 

 by the character of the food. Two dams of the same breed 

 may be fed the same kind of food when pregnant and one 

 will nourish the foetus much better than the other, though 

 all the conditions are the same. One female with suitable 

 food will increase in flesh but at the expense of the progeny, 

 as evidenced in small size at birth. Another female under 

 like conditions will not increase in flesh, but will produce 

 a robust progeny of large size at birth. The reasons for 

 such variations are not well understood, but it is probable 

 that habit in digestion, the result of inheritance and also 

 the character of the feeding previous to the first conception, 

 exert an important influence. 



Pregnancy and nursing. That dams in good flesh at 

 the time of parturition can nourish their young better than 

 if in low flesh .is proved by observation and by general 

 experience. So constantly do such results follow that they 

 cannot be gainsaid, even by those who are opposed to the 

 idea of much flesh in the dam when her young are born. 



When a dam produces progeny while she is low in 

 flesh, the drain upon the system is such in nourishing her 

 young, that howsoever she may be fed, she will scarcely 

 be able to maintain her weight. It is more than probable 

 that she will lose rather than gain. The more freely that 

 she produces milk, the more probable is it that she will 

 lose rather than increase her flesh. The food that she 

 furnishes- to her young must come almost entirely from 

 the food which she eats. Suppose the same dam had been 

 in good flesh at the time of parturition, and that the extra 



