152 CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



MAINTENANCE AND PRODUCTION 



The fact that a large portion of the food supplied 

 to an animal goes to maintenance, in other words 

 simply serves to keep the animal living, whilst the 

 surplus goes to produce increase of weight, milk, etc., 

 is all important. 



For instance, a bullock weighing lo cwt. wants 

 about I St. of meadow hay and 3 st. of swedes per day, 

 practically half a daily ration, as a maintenance diet. 

 It is the food over and above this quantity which is 

 available for the putting on of flesh. Therefore the 

 shorter the fattening period can be made without of 

 course risking over-feeding, the less dead loss there 

 is as regards the maintenance dietary. 



In the case of pigs, sheep, and dairy cows, this loss 

 from under-feeding is more pronounced. Hence the 

 folly oi a large number of farmers, in Ireland especially, 

 of keeping dairy cows dry all winter — cows which are 

 dairy cows in summer and pensioners in winter. 



THE REAL NUTRIENTS OF FOOD 



We can further subdivide the digestible portion of 

 food into three parts, known respectively as (i) albumi- 

 noids or as this part is sometimes called protein, (2) 

 fat or oil, and (3) carbohydrates. Each of these food 

 ingredients has a definite function to perform in the 

 animal body. 



Just as a man who sets about building a wall wants 

 a certain amount of brick or stone, lime and sand, so 

 does a beast in the building up of its body or in the 

 manufacture of such products as milk or wool require 

 each of the particulai food ingredients mentioned above 

 for the purpose. 



We can carry the analogy still further. The brick- 

 layer or stonemason will require brick or stone, lime 

 and sand in certain proportions. If, for instance, he has 



