CHAPTER IX. 



THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



The food of the animals of the farm consists mainly of various 

 vegetable products, being either a part or the whole of the 

 plant, or some bye-product resulting from the utilisation of the 

 vei^etable matter for some other purpose {e.g.^ oil-cake?). 



The actual essentials of the food of animals can be deduced 

 from the composition of their first natural food— rtheir mother's 

 milk. 



All animals are alike in requiring, as ingredients of their 

 food, the following classes of constituents : 



1. Nitrogenous organic compounds — proteids. 



2. Richly carbonaceous, non-nitrogenous compounds— /«<« 



or carbohydrates. 



3. Mineral compounds^ including especially lime, iron, 



potash, sodium, phosphates, sulphates, &c. 



In addition, almost all food-stuffs contain more or less 

 woody, fibrous matter, which is usually known as ''crude 

 fibre." 



The composition of mos': substances used as food has been 

 given in chap. vii. A little explanation of the meaning of 

 the terms used in stating the composition of a food may, how- 

 ever, be useful. 



The common method of expressing the results of the ana- 

 lysis of a food-stuff is to give the amounts of the following 

 constituents : 



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