FUNDAMENTALS OF FEEDING 231 



10 Us. 3 Ibs. 2 Ibs. 1 Ib. beef 



wheat oats bran scrap Total 



Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. 



Protein 0.88 0.26 0.24 0.61 1.99 



Carbohydrates 6.75 1.47 0.84 .. 9.06 



Fat 0.15 . 0.13 0.05 0.14 0.47 



Eatio 1:5.0 



Foundation of Scientific Feeding. The composition of 

 foods affords a means of estimating fairly well the value 

 of the food. Foods are usually valuable in proportion as 

 they contain a high or a low percentage of protein. For 

 instance, a. pound of protein may be worth so much, 

 whether it be found in corn or wheat bran. A hundred 

 pounds of corn containing 10.5 pounds protein is not worth 

 as much as 100 pounds beef scrap containing 60 pounds 

 protein. That is the fundamental lesson that the chemical 

 analysis of foods teaches. 



Chemistry gave to the world only some fifty years ago a 

 feeding standard based upon the chemical composition of 

 fot)ds. Previous to that time, as Henry says, "the farmer 

 gave his ox hay and corn without the least conception of 

 what there was in this provender that nourished animals. ' ' 

 The discovery of the vital differences in the amount of 

 nutrients in different foods was the foundation of scientific 

 feeding. 



Percentage Digested. But that is not all. It was found 

 that not only did the foods vary in composition, or total 

 nutrients, but a few years later a German scientist formu- 

 lated a new standard based, not on total amount of nutrients 

 protein, carbohydrates and fat but on the amount or 

 percentage of these nutrients digested by the animal. For 

 example, there are 3.8 pounds crude protein in corn stover, 

 but only 1.4 pounds of that is digestible, or 36%, the rest 

 of the protein is wasted. 



