300 



FEEDING VALUE OF VARIOUS FOODS 



In many cases, these foods were given in admixture with other 

 concentrated foods and, to some extent, the figures may therefore be 

 thereby rendered less reliable, but in cases where the number of sheep 

 receiving the food is large, the results are probably representative. 

 That good results attend the use of linseed cake and dried grains and 

 that poor effects are given by oats and maize are probably quite safe 

 deductions. 



Another advantage attending the use of linseed cake is also pointed 

 out by many experiments, viz., that the animals so fed "kill" better 

 than others, i.e., show a higher percentage of carcass to live weight. 



With cattle, linseed cake, undecorticated cotton cake and decorti- 

 cated cotton cake show the same order as with sheep, though the dif- 

 ferences between them are less. As regards coarse fodders, the most 

 noticeable point brought out in both the bullock and sheep feeding 

 trials, is the excellent results obtained by the use of clover hay. With 

 cattle, clover hay used in 15 lots, gave an average daily gain of 2-13 Ib. 

 per he.ad and produced 1 Ib. of increase at the expense of 7*01 Ib. of 

 total digestible matter, as against an average for the whole of the cattle 

 feeding trials of 1*803 Ib. and 9'0 Ib. respectively. 



With sheep, 384 animals receiving clover hay gave an average 

 weekly increase of 2-58 Ib. per head (as against 2*06 Ib. of the re- 

 maining 2390 sheep), and for each 1 Ib. of increase, consumed 6'2 Ib. 

 of total digestible matter (against 7*43 Ib. consumed by the remain- 

 der). 



This very pronounced effect of clover hay is worthy of attention 

 by stock-feeders. It is probably partly due to the high content of al- 

 buminoids (though the rations of which it formed part had, as a rule, 

 only a fairly wide "albuminoid ratio "), but is mainly to be attributed 

 to its richness in ash constituents, particularly lime (vide infra). 



As to roots, mangolds proved better than swedes, and the results 

 indicate that for cattle, from 80 to 100 Ib. per head per day and for 

 sheep, about 14 Ib. per head per day, was the most successful allow- 

 ance. 



Amides are usually stated as being used in the body simply as 

 heat producers and to be incapable of acting like albuminoids as flesh 

 formers. Though undoubtedly inferior to albuminoids, it appears 

 from recent experiments that amides do to a certain extent perform 

 the functions of these substances. They certainly lessen the con- 



