11 



*• It should be carefully kept in mind that the above rations are for 1,000- 

 pound animals in every case. A pig weighing only 100 pounds should have 

 one-tenth of the ration given in this table for a pig of its age. An ox 

 weighing 1,500 pounds should have one and five-tenths times the ration for 

 oxen given in the table, and so on. The reason for giving the rations all 

 referred to 1,000 pound animals is that we are thus enabled to make legiti- 

 mate comparisons between the rations. Look, for instance, at the enormous 

 amount of both flesh-forming and heat and energy-producing nutrients fed 

 to hogs campared to other animals of the same size. Hogs grow more 

 rapidly than any other class of farm animals ; they also produce this growth 

 more economically than any other. The amount they can digest over and 

 above their maintenance ration is very great, and as this excess is what 

 produces growth, they make most rapid growth. The farmers of the United 

 States have made more money from hogs than from either cattle, sheep, or 

 horses. Compare again the amount of protein fed to young animals and that 

 fed to older animals. The table does not mean that the amount of protein, 

 for instance, fed to calves two or three months old is twice as much as that 

 fed to calves twelve to eighteen months old, but it does mean that, according 

 to their weight, they are fed twice as much. 



" Use of the Table. 



" The table giving the digestible nutrients in one pound of the various 

 feeding stuffs is made use of as follows : — Suppose it is desired to find the 

 digestible nutrients in 7 lbs. of barley. By referring to the table we find 

 that one pound of barley contains .087 lb. protein, and .682 It), fuel. Seven 

 pounds would contain, then, seven times these quantities, or 



Protein=.0S7x7— .609 Vb. 

 Fuel=.682x7i=4.774 lb. 



" With" a little practice this operation can be performed mentally, only the 

 products being set down. 



" Compounding Rations. 



" Having learned something of the requirements of the animal body in 

 the way of food, and of the nutritive content of the various feeding stuffs, 

 let us now consider the method by which we may secure balanced rations for 

 our stock. As the problem is much simpler where few kinds of material are 

 fed, we will take up first the feeding stuffs available in the central part of 

 the State, where many animals are fed solely on alfalfa. Since the principles 

 involved in compounding rations are the same for all classes of animals, we 

 will take, to illustrate the method, the case of a thousand-pound cow giving, 

 say, 25 lbs. of milk a day. Such an animal, according to the table of feeding 

 standards above, needs daily from 2.2 to 2.5 lbs. of protein, and 13.4 to 14.9 lbs. 

 of fuel, (carbohydrates and fat). If she eats 30 lbs. of alfalfa hay a day 

 she gets the following quantities of nutriment : 



"30 lbs. alfalfa hay=3.24 lbs. protein, and 12.72 lbs. fuel. 



" The total amount of nutriment is just about right, but there is consid- 

 erably more protein than is necessary. This is not particularly objectionable, 

 however, in the case of cows. Neither is the amount of dry matter (26.7 



