BALANCED RATIONS 207 



tein for 6 to 7 pounds of carbohydrates is usually 

 better. 



It is possible to prepare a ration that will fit the stan- 

 dard and yet not be satisfactory. The standards are guides 

 but not laws. They do not do away with skill in feeding, 

 but will help in deciding on the feeds. One might feed 

 cows all cottonseed meal for the grain ration, but the 

 cows would not do well. Cottonseed meal is constipating 

 in effect. Wheat bran and oil meal are laxative. One can 

 prepare a ration for horses including clover hay, but 

 clover is not the best for horses. This is why it sells for less 

 than timothy. It is better than timothy for feeding cows. 



Not all cows of the same size will need the same amount 

 of feed. Some may be harder to keep and some may be 

 giving larger quantities of milk. It is well to balance 

 the ration and then adapt it to the different animals by 

 feeding larger or smaller quantities. 



278. Comfort of Animals. Armsby has found that a 

 steer produces 30 to 50 per cent more heat when standing 

 up than when lying down. This heat, of course, comes 

 from burning up of food. Evidently it will pay to pro- 

 vide comfortable quarters and a good bed for animals. 

 This does not mean that the barn should be warm. Fat- 

 tening animals produce so much heat in digestion that 

 they are more comfortable in cool stables. All feeding 

 experiments with steers have shown cool, dry stables to 

 be best. Cows need warmer quarters, as they are not 

 fattening, and are not using so much carbohydrates. 

 Regularity in feeding is also of great importance. 



279. Relation of the Individuality of the Animal to 

 Profits. Some animals will not produce profitable results. 



