FEEDING OF FARM STOCK. 193 



like corn meal and silage, for example, it is necessary to 

 reduce them to a common basis for reckoning their feeding 

 weights and the dry matter is used for this purpose. 



BULK IN THE RATION. 



Next to the proper nutritive ratio and amount of a ra- 

 tion, its bulkiness must be considered. A certain amount 

 of bulk in the ration is necessary and desirable, and is 

 made up largely by the water and fiber. If the ration is 

 too bulky, the animal is unable to eat enough of it to secure 

 the proper amount of digestible nutrients, and if it is not 

 bulky enough the digestive organs are not sufficiently dis- 

 tended to permit of complete digestion. When the bulk is 

 largely due to fiber, the ration is likely to be too unpalatable 

 to be readily eaten, and when it is due to water a loosening 

 and depleting effect on the system is likely to result. Un- 

 der ordinary conditions for cattle the ration will be suf- 

 ficiently bulky when two thirds of the dry matter given is 

 in the form of hay, fodder or silage and one third in the 

 form of grain or concentrated feed. For working horses 

 the amount of grain and coarse feed should be about 

 equally divided. 



PALATABILITY OF A RATION. 



The palatableness of a ration, or the relish with which 

 it is eaten, is a matter of no little importance. All green 

 succulent feeds are more or less palatable and this is one 

 reason why roots and silage are so valuable and popular as 

 feeds. In general, animals will do better on a ration 

 which suits their taste even though it is not balanced accord- 

 ing to the standard, than they will on one which is per- 

 fectly balanced that they do not like. The palatability of 

 the feed and the individual whims of the animal frequently 

 necessitate variations from the standards, which, as before 

 stated, are not absolute, and it is here again that the skill 

 of the feeder must be exercised in determining just how 

 great the variations may be. 



