DOMESTIC ANIMALS 241 



milk and eggs need flesh formers, or foods containing nitrogen. 

 Fattening animals require more carbonaceous foods. The smaller 

 the demand for heat and energy, the more food can go to forming 

 fat. Therefore it is more economical to fatten and kill hogs before 

 cold weather when much of their food would be used to furnish 

 heat. It is wise to pen fattening hogs and to confine fattening cattle 

 in stables or feed lots so that food may go to fat instead of to 

 energy. 



Kinds of Food. There are two kinds of food commonly used 

 for stock, bulky foods called forage, roughage, or fodders, and con- 

 centrated foods or feeds. 



Forage. The bulky foods most commonly used are hay, 

 cornstalks, straw, silage, roots, and tubers. As a rule, fodders 

 are rich in carbohydrates and poor in protein. They differ greatly, 

 however, and the difference is due not only to the kind of plant, 

 but also to soil, time of cutting, and method of curing. 



Feeds. Feeds are seeds of plants, whole or ground, and their 

 by-products. Feeds supply protein, fat, and carbohydrates, and 

 furnish a large amount of nourishment in small bulk. Grain the 

 seeds of cereals, such as corn, rye, oats, and barley is largely used 

 for feeds. 



Other valuable feeds are the seeds of peas, beans, and other 

 legumes; mill feeds, the ground grain of cereals; bran and mid- 

 dlings, the germs and the outer coverings of grain; cotton- seed 

 meal, left from the manufacture of oil from cotton seed; linseed 

 meal, or oil meal, left from the manufacture of oil from flax- 

 seed. 



Food Value. A food is valuable according to its digestible 

 value. This depends to a great extent on the form in which it is 

 fed. The fiber of cornstalks and other coarse fodders resists the 

 digestive fluids. To get their full feeding value, these should be 



