MAINTENANCE: RATION AND BATTENINGS 



449 



comparing wide and narrow rations. Wolff, 1 for example, taking 

 the average of 18 experiments, found sheep to make equal gains 

 whether the nutritive ratio was i : 7 to 8, or 1 : 4 to 5. Lehmann 2 

 compared i : 12 to 1:5, with equal results. There is thus a 

 wider margin in the quantity of digestible protein which may be 

 fed, and if protein is sufficiently cheap, it may be used for the 

 purpose of producing fat. 



If the animal is not in good condition, the ration should be 

 moderate at first and gradually increased, beginning with a nutri- 

 tive ratio not wider than i : 6. 



The quantity of fat fed is not important, but if fed to 

 ruminants in greater quantity than one pound per 1,000 pounds 

 live weight, it is liable to decrease the appetite or cause digestive 

 disturbances and interfere with the fattening. Pigs can use more 

 than this amount. 



The fattening ration for steers should not exceed 3.6 pounds 

 productive value per day and per 1,000 pounds, but may be lower 

 than this, according to the time it is desired to take for the fatten- 

 ing. Rapid fattening is less expensive than slow fattening. The 

 increase in live weight in fattening diminishes in the course of 

 the process, since the maintenance requirements increase with 

 the increase in weight of the animals. The cost of production 

 of gain in weight increases considerably towards the end of the 

 fattening period. 



The following are the amounts of nutrients desirable for fat- 

 tening, per day and 1,000 pounds live weight: 



1 Landw. Jahrbuch, 1896, p. 193. 



2 Landw. Jahrbuch, 1902, p. 162. 



