14 AGRICULTUKAL EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



I. 



1. A BRIEF PRACTICAL TALK ABOUT SOME OF 

 THE PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN FEEDING 

 OUR FARM ANIMALS. 



In order to feed the live stock of the farm to the best 

 advantage, it is important tliat the farmer he familiar with 

 the elementary principles of animal nutrition. 



Now the body of the animal is made up, generally speak- 

 ing, of four distinct groups of substances, namely, (1) 

 water, (2) flesh (lean meat), (3) fat, (4) ash. 



The percentage of water in different animals in different 

 stages of growth varies in round numbers from 40 to 85 

 per cent. ; the percentage of bone framework of the body 

 from 6 to 12 per cent. ; the flesh, not including l)lood and 

 entrails, composes from 30 to 48 per cent. ; while the fat 

 varies from 5 to 40 per cent. 



An average composition of the various farm animals would 

 be somewhat as follows: bones, 8.9 per cent.; flesh and 

 teeth, 40.1 per cent. ; fat that can be removed by mechan- 

 ical means, 23.9 per cent. ; and blood, hair, horns, entrails, 

 including foods contained therein, 27.1 per cent. 



The milk, an animal product, contains approximately 87 

 per cent, of water, 3.5 per cent, of casein and albumen or 

 nitrogenous matter, of which the lean meat of the animal is 

 also a type, 0.7 per cent, of ash and about 8.5 per cent, of 

 fat and milk sugar. 



The flesh or lean meat is composed of nitrogen, carbon, 

 hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur and phosphorous ; its character- 

 istic element is the nitrogen. Small quantities of ash also 

 enter into its composition. The bones are made up partly 

 of nitrogenous matter, such as glue, gelatine, etc., partly of 

 fat and partly of ash. The a«h or earthy part of the bone. 



