102 PROFITABLE STOCK RAISING 



use, but rather that successful feeding depends upon, 

 the proper blending of different classes of feed. 



In the investigation and discussion of feeding 

 problems, the term " nutritive ratio " is one in 

 very common use. By this term is meant the ratio 

 which the total amount of digestible protein in a 

 feeding ration bears to the total amount of digest- 

 ible carbohydrates. The basis for computing such 

 a ratio was found in the chemical analyses of the 

 various feeds, which are now published in tabulated 

 form in all books devoted exclusively to feeding 

 problems. The nutritive ratio is said to be narrow 

 or wide as it contains a relatively large or small 

 proportion of protein. For instance, clover hay 

 has a nutritive ratio of i 15.2. This means that 

 there is 5.2 times as much carbohydrates as pro- 

 tein in a given amount of clover hay. In skim milk 

 the ratio is 1:1.63. This represents an extremely 

 narrow nutritive ratio, while mangels, having a 

 ratio of 1 19.2, represent an unusually wide nutri- 

 tive ratio. A feeding standard is simply the some- 

 what arbitrary statement of the proportionate 

 amounts of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous foods 

 required to effect a given purpose in feeding. 

 Although feeding standards and nutritive ratios 

 are published in all the works on feeding, 

 they should not be regarded as an absolute and final 

 guide in determining the formation of the best feed- 

 ing ration for animals. There are such wide de- 

 grees of variation in the composition of feeds, and 

 such great individual differences in the require- 

 ments of animals, that a ration which would be 

 ideal under one condition, would not be well bal- 

 anced under different circumstances. For in- 

 stance, the composition of the corn plant varies at 

 almost every stage of its growth, and varies upon 



