Aug., 1923] INSPECTION of feeding stuffs 5 



Crude Fiber is made up of the more woody-like carbo- 

 hydrates which are largely of a cellulose nature. Pure cot- 

 ton is an example of almost pure cellulose. Wood, straw, 

 corn fodder, etc., are materials which are high in crude 

 fiber content. 



WHAT ARE FOODS FOR ANIMALS? 

 In order that an animal may continue to live even 

 without making growth or producing wool, eggs, milk or 

 work, etc., there are certain food materials which it must 

 have. The animal must have a certain amount of protein, 

 fat, carbohydrates, water and mineral constituents. In 

 addition other things known as "vitamines," "growth pro- 

 moting substances," or "food accessories," the chemical 

 nature of which we know very little, are necessary. The 

 latter substances, however, are usually present in sufficient 

 quantities in our regular feeding-stuffs if we feed a suffi- 

 cient variety and particularly if we feed a good leguminous 

 roughage. Our feeding-stuffs usually contain mineral mat- 

 ter sufficient for the needs of an animal with a few excep- 

 tions, such as calcium carbonate, which we furnish as 

 oyster shells for hens, and phosphorus and calcium which is 

 sometimes fed to dairy cattle and pigs in the form of bone 

 meal. If alfalfa or clover is fed as a roughage they will 

 aid very much in furnishing a proper mineral supply. 

 The protein, fat and carbohydrates are the foods ivhich we 

 are particularly interested in tvhen ive buy commercial feed- 

 ing-stuffs and it is their content luhich largely determines 

 the value of the feed. 



DIGESTIBILITY IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING 



THE VALUE OF FEED. 

 When fed not all of the protein, carbohydrates and fat 

 in the different feeding-stuffs are digested. In comparing 

 the value of the different feeding-stuff s, especially when they 

 are of different types, we must take into consideration the 

 digestibility of these food nutrients. The coefficient of di- 

 gestibility is a term which expresses the percentage amount 



