4 PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



substances as green plants, fresh meats, and milk, and in 

 many cases it can be detected by sight and touch. Even 

 substances like starch, bran, wood, straw, and corn, which 

 appear to be quite dry, usually contain from 2 to 15 per cent 

 of water. The water content of plants depends upon the 

 species, the degree of maturity, and the amount of moisture 

 in the soil. Thus fresh timothy grass contains about 60 per 

 cent of water, while mangels contain 90 per cent; im- 

 mature plants contain more water than mature ones; 

 and plants grown in a moist soil contain more than those 

 grown in a dry soil. Water in the plant acts as a solvent 

 for the different forms of plant food and transfers them from 

 one part of the plant to another. It also aids in imparting 

 firmness and rigidity to the plant. This function is illus- 

 trated well by the withering of a plant when its water is re- 

 moved by evaporation or drying. 



Water in Feedingstufifs. — The stock-feeder should have a 

 knowledge of the moisture content of feedingstuffs for at 

 least two reasons : first, the amount of dry substance in a 

 feed largely determines its nutritive value ; consequently 

 in using feeds which contain large amounts of water, as 

 silage, wet beet pulp, milk, wet brewers' grains, and mangels 

 (stockbeets), one must feed a larger amount than when 

 using feeds which are low in moisture content in order to 

 supply the same amount of dry matter. Second, the keep- 

 ing qualities of feeds depend largely upon their low water 

 content. Such feedingstuffs as the hays, grains, meals, 

 and oil cakes, when stored in bulk, are very liable to fer- 

 ment or mold if they contain more than 18 to 20 per cent of 

 moisture. This usually injures their quality and decreases 

 their nutritive value. 



