FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



reason chiefly, that the digestive system requires time to 

 accommodate itself to the changes of food, and also to the 

 additional tax put upon it. All changes should be gradually 

 made (see p. 459). Digestion and assimilation in a certain 

 direction become strengthened by use or repetition. It is 

 evident that animals accustomed to grain previously can 

 be more quickly led up to a full ration than those to which 

 it has never been fed. In some instances, as when growing 

 baby beef, so much grain is being fed all the while, that 

 the difference in the respective amounts fed before and 

 during the finishing period is not marked. It is more a 

 difference in kind than of quantity, and the same is true of 

 cows that are fattened at once, when they cease to give 

 milk. If undue haste is shown in putting animals on full 

 feed, the digestion becomes deranged, and time is lost in 

 recovering digestive tone, while in some instances it is never 

 again fully restored. 



The time required to bring the different classes of 

 animals up to full feed varies. It is longest in the case of 

 cattle and shortest in that of swine, in keeping with the 

 time required in finishing the different classes. It varies 

 also with the condition of the animals and as to whether 

 they were given grain previously, and especially when the 

 finishing period began. When cattle are lean and unused 

 to grain, from 3 to 4 pounds would suffice at the first. 

 This may usually be increased at the rate of say one 

 and one-half to 2 pounds per week, for four to six weeks 

 according to the kind of grain fed and the duration of the 

 fattening period. The less concentrated the grain fed and 

 the shorter the prospective period for feeding, the more 

 quickly may the animals be brought up to full feed, and 

 vice versa. As the fattening progresses, the grain fed is 

 usually increased in the degree of its concentration up to 

 a certain limit. 



Sheep and lambs that have not had grain previously 

 may be given say from one-fourth to one-third of a pound 

 of grain daily at the first, preferably oats or mainly so, 



