216 



Feeds and Feeding. 



332. Grinding grain for cows.— Shaw and Norton of the Michigan 

 Station^ saved the droppings of animals fed whole grain with the 

 following results: 



Average per ct. of grain left whole when fed to cows, heifers, and calves. 



This shows that as much as 26.5 per ct., or over one-quarter, of 

 the grain eaten by cows may pass undigested. Four per ct. of the 

 corn and 11 per ct. of the oats in the droppings germinated, and 

 analyses showed that it had lost but little of its nutriment. Un- 

 fortunately there have been no extensive trials where whole and 

 ground grains for cows were directly compared. In a trial by Lane 

 of the New Jersey Station^ in which corn-and-cob meal and whole 

 corn were fed in opposition one to the other in rations otherwise the 

 same, the yield of milk was 9.3 per ct. greater from the meal ra- 

 tion. (621, 703) 



333. Grinding corn for pigs. — Each fall for 10 years at the Wis- 

 consin Station (821) one lot of fattening pigs was fed old shelled 

 corn while the other received ground corn. The average saving by 

 grinding was 6 per ct., an amount too small to pay for grinding in 

 most cases. It was observed that the pigs getting meal gained faster 

 than those fed whole corn, but they also ate more feed in a given 

 time. This explains in part the quite common opinion of farmers 

 that it pays to grind corn for fattening pigs. 



The question of grinding corn for pigs may be considered as now 

 settled negatively by the exhaustive studies conducted at the Iowa 

 Experiment Station. (822, 845) 



334. Cooking feed. — In 1854 Professor Mapes voiced the sentiment 

 of the times when he wrote :^ ' ' Raw food is not in condition to be ap- 

 proximated to the tissues of animal life. The experiment often tried 

 has proved that 18 or 19 lbs. of cooked corn are equal to 30 lbs. of 

 raw corn for hog feed." A book could be filled with similar state- 

 ments made in the earlier times. (60) 



335. Artificial digestion trials. — At the New York (Geneva) Sta- 

 tion* Ladd determined artificially the digestibility of the crude pro- 



Bul. 242. 



Rpt. 1898. 



'■' Trans. Am. Inst., 1854, p. 37; 



* Ept. 1885. 



