GENERAL FEEDING 473 



the food is proportioned out from meal to meal, and in 

 quantity just sufficient to keep the appetite in tone. In 

 this way surfeiting is prevented. The author found when 

 feeding sheep at the Minnesota station, by the two systems, 

 digestive troubles were much less frequent with the ani- 

 mals on a limited grain ration. 



While it is quite practicable to fatten animals on unlim- 

 ited feed, from what has been said above, it would seem 

 undesirable to follow this method on the arable farm or 

 western ranches, where alfalfa grows abundantly. Where 

 animals and more especially sheep are congregated at feed- 

 ing centers, and where screenings of grain are used as the 

 "hief concentrate in fattening, it may be the cheaper method. 

 Finishing on the farm, however, is to be encouraged 

 rather than at feeding centers, because of the favorable in- 

 fluence which it exerts on fertility, and also for other 

 reasons, as furnishing employment in winter that should 

 prove profitable, and utilizing coarse foods that may other- 

 wise be to some extent wasted. 



Relative profits from domestic animals. The rela- 

 tive profit from producing milk, beef, mutton and pork 

 has been discussed, and frequently to but little purpose. 

 With reference to economy in production the following- 

 conclusions will be found correct : ( I ) Judged from the 

 standpoint of the return in nutrients for food consumed, the 

 cow is the most economical producer of food for man, but 

 (2) the relative profit in producing milk or meat is in a 

 marked degree the outcome of conditions, hence (3) un- 

 der some conditions,, the time is never likely to come when 

 milk, beef, mutton, or pork cannot be produced at the 

 greatest profit. 



That the cow is a more economical producer of food 

 or man, than the steer, the sheep or the pig, cannot be 

 questioned, if considered only from the standpoint of the 

 nutrients consumed in producing the same. Lawes and 

 Gilbert have shown that in the milk of a cow giving 10 

 quarts of milk daily, there are 6.6 pounds of nitrogenous 



