FEEDS AND FEEDING IO5 



of flesh, will require very different treatment than 

 when performing hard labor. The ration suitable 

 for dairy cows when being fed for high milk pro- 

 duction would not be the most profitable feeding 

 practice for animals being fattened for market. 



OBJECT SOUGHT DETERMINES FEEDS 



The first consideration in planning a system of 

 feeding for any period should be the object for 

 which the feeding is done. Another consideration is 

 the class of feeds available in each individual in- 

 stance. It is a comparatively easy matter to figure 

 out a well-balanced ration if the feeder has at his 

 command an unlimited variety of feeds. The aver- 

 age feeder is not situated under these conditions. 

 The farmer of the midde West has corn, clover hay 

 and corn stover, as well as blue grass and other 

 pastures. Naturally, he wishes to use these home- 

 grown grains and fodders to the best advantage, 

 and to purchase from outside sources the minimum 

 amount of feeding material. How best to combine 

 these available feeds so as to produce the most 

 economical results is the question of most moment 

 to the average farmer and stockman. 



For conditions in the corn belt, it is probable that 

 clover or alfalfa hay and shelled corn constitute the 

 basis for the most economical ration for fattening 

 cattle, sheep or horses. At the Nebraska exper- 

 iment station, four years of experiments demon- 

 strated that prairie hay, when fed alone with corn 

 to fatten cattle, produced small and unsatisfactory 

 gains, and little or no profit, while alfalfa hay with 

 corn alone produced large and profitable gains. The 

 advantage of the latter ration lies in the fact that 

 alfalfa hay contains a very large proportion of pro- 



