THE DIGESTIBILITY OF FEEDINGSTUFFS 71 



found that patent stock foods when fed with corn to hogs did 

 not increase the digestibihty of the ration. The hogs did 

 not derive more benefit from their ration but, on the 

 contrary, they required more feed to produce a pound 

 of gain when stock foods were used than when corn was 

 fed alone. 



Snyder and Hummel, at the Minnesota Experiment 

 Station,^ in feeding a ration of corn and alfalfa hay to steers, 

 found that the addition of a patent stock food materially 

 decreased the digestibihty of the dry matter, crude protein, 

 crude fiber, and fat of the ration. 



Patent stock foods, in some cases, may have a medicinal 

 value but, if an animal needs medicine, usually it will be 

 found to be better pohcy to call in a trained veterinarian. 



Salt, although valuable and even necessary to the animal, 

 does not increase the digestibility of the feed. In fact, 

 large quantities of salt may decrease the digestibility by 

 hindering the action of the digestive enzymes. 



Stage of Growth of the Plant. — In general, as plants 

 mature the relative proportion of crude fiber in the stems and 

 leaves increases and the plant tissues become harder and 

 tougher, and, consequently, the stems and leaves become 

 less digestible. On the other hand, the proportion of 

 nitrogen-free extract, i.e. the starches and sugars in the 

 grain or seeds, increases, and hence the total amount of 

 nutriment in the grain and seeds increases with approaching 

 maturity. Thus, in order to get the greatest amount of 

 nutrients, such plants as clover and timothy, which are 

 grown primarily for the stems and leaves, should be harvested 

 before the ripening of their seeds ; while such plants as corn, 



> Bui. 80. 



