472 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



of suitable height to allow the animals to eat without dis- 

 comfort. The food comes into the troughs as fast as 

 eaten, through an opening along the side, and just above 

 the bottom of the box. Cattle are frequently fed in flat 

 boxes with low sides, the meal or corn being replenished 

 to the extent of always keeping food before them. 



It has been found practicable to fatten live stock when 

 fed thus, with results that have been, at least, fairly but 

 not eminently satisfactory. It has been practiced more 

 commonly at feeding centers, where animals are fattened in 

 a wholesale way, and to a far greater extent with sheep and 

 lambs than with any other class of live stock. The chief 

 object sought is to save labor. The roughage fed in such 

 instances is also replenished in suitable racks, so that it 

 also is constantly before the animals. 



To this method of feeding there are the following ob- 

 jections: (i) Animals may not be fed thus with safety 

 until that time is reached when they are on full feed, that 

 is on a full allowance of grain. To feed them in this way 

 at the beginning would disturb digestion to their serious 

 detriment (see p. 377). This period of preliminary feed- 

 ing usually covers several weeks, in some instances one- 

 third of the entire finishing period. (2) It is less economical 

 of food. Animals fed thus will live chiefly on concentrates, 

 and just to the extent that they do, they consume a less 

 amount of roughage, which in nearly all instances, furnishes 

 nutrients more cheaply than is furnished by concentrates. 

 In areas where concentrates are relatively high and rough- 

 age cheap, as is usually the case where alfalfa grows at 

 its best, such feed would add materially to the cost of 

 increase. (3) The increase made is not usually quite so 

 satisfactory as from the other system of feeding. Such 

 has been the trend of the results of trials at the ex- 

 periment stations. While taking the food, the animals 

 breathe on more or less of the unconsumed portion, which 

 makes it less appetizing for them and leads to decreased 

 consumption. (4) Digestive troubles are less frequent when 



