MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS 515 



The variations resulting from food is caused more by 

 irregular movement in the evacuations than by a difference 

 in the amount of food consumed. The difference in the 

 amount of solids excreted by mature cattle at rest has been 

 found, in some instances, to vary fully 25 pounds per day. 

 With animals that are exercised, the difference may be 

 greater. It has also been noticed that the movement of 

 food in digestion is less regular when the diet has recently 

 been changed. 



The difference in the amount of water consumed from 

 day to day is likely to be much greater than that in the 

 food consumed. It is more likely to be influenced by a 

 change of temperature in the atmosphere. It is also in- 

 fluenced by a change of temperature in the water itself. 

 When it is called to mind that the stomach of a mature 

 ox is capable of holding from 100 to 150 pounds of water, 

 and that the excretion of urine is more or less irregular, 

 it will be readily apparent how the amount of water con- 

 sumed may lead to variations in the live weight of animals. 



These variations account for the extravagant gains that 

 are sometimes claimed for animals on full feed. A well 

 grown steer at the Kansas experiment station showed, in 

 one instance, a loss of 2 pounds as the result of seven days 

 feeding on a fattening ration. At the end of the following 

 seven days he showed a gain of 47 pounds or nearly 7 

 pounds per day. They also show the necessity for the 

 utmost care in drawing conclusions based on weights while 

 conducting experiments with live stock that relate to in- 

 crease or decrease. Some stations have adopted the safe 

 plan of weighing three days in succession under exactly 

 the same conditions and taking the average of these as 

 representing the true weight. 



Influences that affect palatability. The great im- 

 portance of palatability in foods has already been dis- 

 cussed (see p. 51). The influences that affect it 

 will now be considered. These include: (i) The in- 

 trinsic properties of the plant; (2) the nature of the 



