24 CONKEY'S STOCK BOOK 



a digestion in full working order. Each nourishing element was promptly 

 put in solution by the juices of the body, and so absorbed by the hungry 

 tissues. If the animal took more of any element than the tissue had power 

 to absorb, then that extra was all wasted. Chemists speak of "saturate 

 solutions," meaning of course, that as much is dissolved as will dissolve, 

 for instance, boracic crystals in hot water. The rest is all waste, since 

 it cannot get into the solution. But it does for the time being clog the 

 system; just as the excess of boracic crystals crowd down to the bottom 

 of the vessel which holds the ''saturate" boracic solution. 



Any element that clogs the system, i. e., can not be put in solution, is 

 a wasted element in the system of feeding. 



It not only wastes itself, and is a needless expense for that element; 

 but it taxes the energy of the animal just that much to get it, and then to 

 get rid of it. 



With the natural grazing animal this waste all came back to the land, 

 anyway; so nature didn't care how wasteful or extravagant her system 

 might be. 



"NOTHING WASTED?" Nature never stops to think about waste. She 



is a simple-minded old dame; and says curtly 



it all stays in the universe, so "nothing is wasted." She never thinks of 

 the waste in time and energy, which mounts up so rapidly. 



FIGHTING NATURE The man who pays for feed, does care. He's 

 downright glad to know all there is to know on 

 this mighty important subject of "balanced" rations. 



Since a poor ration all digested (i. e., put in solution so the body 

 sponges can take it up) is better than the best of all possible rations not 

 all digested but wasted; the keen man holds one eye in suspicion on old 

 Nature, and with the other keeps watch of the animal's digestive ability. 

 He's in the race for profitable production. He knows it's a fight "agin 

 nature." It's a race with her sometimes with a farm mortgage as the 

 wager. But it is a race the stock owner can win with energy and 

 Conkey's assistance. 



Why Conkey? Because in full 95% of all cases, the hard pushed 

 domestic animal must at times have digestive assistance, But more about 

 Ihis in the proper place later. 



HAVE YOU ANY HOLE So we see just how it is that a food too high 

 IN YOUR POCKET? in one element, protein for instance, and low 



in others will be fed at a loss. Protein hap- 

 pens to be the most expensive element; but the facts would be the same 

 if the excess happened to be carbohydrates (starch and sugar, which 

 furnish body fat and heat) or ash (which furnishes bone). Any one of 

 these fed in excess of the animal's digestive capacity, i. e., power to put 

 in solution and absorb in solution, is wasted, and makes a hole in the 

 owner's pocket. Protein is the element we are most careful not to feed 

 in excess; because it is expensive, and makes the biggest hole in the 

 pocket. 



A ration must be not only balanced, but economical. 



WHAT IS You balance a ration according to what you want 



THE PRODUCT? to get out of it horsepower, dairy products, baby 



beef, mutton or bacon. Food too high in protein 



will produce muscle at the expense of fat; too high in carbohydrates will 



