THE FATTENING ANIMAL 195 



with the pig than with sheep or oxen. Euminant 

 animals are thus best fitted for deahng with food 

 requiring a prolonged digestion, while the pig excels in 

 the capacity for assimilating large quantities of easily 

 digested food. 



The pig requires far less food to produce 100 lbs. of 

 increase than either the ox or sheep. The pig, with 

 its very large consumption of easily digested food, has, 

 in fact, to spend a smaller proportion of it on heat and 

 work, and has thus a larger surplus left for the pro- 

 duction of increase. The pig, from its rapid feeding, and 

 high rate of increase, is undoubtedly the most eco- 

 nomical meat-making machine at the farmer's disposal. 



We have as yet looked at the fattening period as 

 a whole ; the rates of consumption and of increase will 

 generally, however, vary in different stages of this 

 period. 



In the case of a lean or growing animal, the quantity 

 of food which the animal will eat increases during the 

 earlier stages of fattening, the stomach and intestines 

 becoming larger ; in the case of full-grown animals 

 this increase in consumption soon ceases. When the 

 animal becomes very fat the consumption of food falls 

 off somewhat, and the increase of weight at this point 

 is much diminished. 



As fattening advances the same amount of food will 

 produce a steadily diminishing amount of increase. 

 This is chiefly because the consumption of food for 

 internal work steadily increases with the increasing 

 size of the body. The increase during the later stages 

 of fattening is also drier, and contains a larger propor- 

 tion of fat than in the earlier stages of the process. 

 These changes in the rates of consumption ai)d 



