PREPARATION OF FEEDING-STUFFS 147 



10. The preparation of food by fermentation. 



Ground cereals, feeding meals, bran, etc. are some- 

 times made into a dough, then raised by means of 

 a little sour dough, and after twenty-four hours or 

 so are fed. The object of this is to improve the 

 flavour, but there is not, as a matter of fact, any 

 advantage, rather a disadvantage, for the diges- 

 tibility of the food-stuff is thereby diminished. 



An experiment with wheat bran showed that 

 before fermentation 75*5% of the organic matter 

 was digestible, whilst afterwards only 67-3%. 

 Similarly with the crude protein, of which 82-2% 

 was digestible in the original bran, but afterwards 

 only 79-1%. 



Scalding, boiling, or steaming are less trouble- 

 some processes and are better suited for the purpose 

 than is the fermentation method. 



11. In the preparation of sour food by fermenta- 

 tion, chopped straw or hay, chaff, green fodder, 

 roots, and sometimes distillery waste are used. 

 All these substances are well mixed, the mangels 

 and potatoes having been previously sliced, a little 

 salt added and then enough water or distillers' 

 wash to make a mixture from which the liquid does 

 not drain away when it is squeezed in the hand. 

 The whole is then made into heaps about three feet 

 wide and two feet high, well beaten down and 

 covered with straw, upon which boards and stones 

 are laid. Fermentation soon begins, depending 



