THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF FEEDS, WITH TABLES 

 GIVING THEIR PERCENTAGE OF DI- 

 GESTIBLE NUTRIENTS. 



BY W. A, HENRY, DEAN, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, UNIVERSITY OP 



WISCONSIN; AUTHOR OF "FEEDS AND FEEDING" A HAND-BOOK 



FOR THE STUDENT AND STOCKMAN. 



Madison, Wis. 



Every dairyman should possess a clear knowledge of the chemical com- 

 position of feeding stuffs and know something of the laws of animal nutrition. 

 In this chapter we will consider the common constituents of the various 

 feeding stuffs generally available on American farms. I ask the reader not 

 to skip this chapter, declaring it too scientific for his understanding, but to 

 study it in order to know more concerning his business. The really practical 

 man needs every help he can get and will utilize everything available. Science 

 is simply well arranged knowledge and science is needed in every operation 

 on the well managed dairy farm. 



There are technical terms to be learned, but fortunately they are few 

 and not particularly difficult to understand. The first of these is "protein" 

 which embraces a group of nutrients in feeding stuffs of the highest import- 

 ance. Protein means first or principal, and the protein compounds in our 

 feeds should always be first considered when we talk about feeding stuffs. 

 The white of egg is almost pure protein with water additional. If we chew 

 a few kernels of wheat for a time, there remains a sticky mass which as boys 

 we called "gum." This gummy substance is the protein part of the wheat 

 grain commonly called gluten. Gluten helps make the dough elastic in 

 bread-making and adds greatly to the nutritive value of bread in furnishing 

 protein. Nitrogen is the characteristic chemical element in all protein 

 substances and hence feeding stuffs rich in protein are often called nitro- 

 genous feeds. The muscles as well as the nerves of animals are composed 

 mainly of protein; the hide, hair, hoofs, horns and a part of the bones like- 

 wise consist largely of protein. Leguminous plants such as clover, alfalfa, 

 cow peas, field peas, etc., are all rich in protein. ^The protein in the wheat 

 grain and the corn grain is located near the outside of the kernel, and in 

 milling it passes away with the bran and middlings to a considerable extent, 

 so that bran and middlings are both comparatively rich in protein. When 



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