296 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



as this experiment was carried out under our own personal 

 supervision, and as great care was taken to have weights as 

 exact as could have been taken in the establishment of the 

 standard, we must conclude that the quality of the food or 

 its condition will vary the ration and its effect. That all 

 the conditions may be understood, it should be stated that 

 the corn, peas, oats and flax-seed in the proportions stated, 

 were mixed and ground together, and then 14 Ibs. of the 

 mixed meal was mixed with the 15 Ibs. of oat-straw, cut 

 into inch lengths, and all well cooked together that is, 

 420 Ibs. of the ground meal was mixed with 450 Ibs. of cut 

 oat-straw, placed in a steam-box and well cooked with 

 steam, and this served for three days' rations for the 10 

 head, except that '6 Ibs. of long hay was given to each at 

 noon. Perhaps the explanation is, that the cooking ren- 

 dered a so much larger percentage digestible, that it was, 

 in effect, equal to the German standard. These steers 

 weighed 1,210 Ibs. when the experiment began, and 1,485 

 Ibs. at the end of 90 days; so that 1,348 Ibs. was the aver- 

 age weight during this period. The meal ration was but 

 10 Ibs. during the first two weeks, and increased gradually 

 up to 16 Ibs., at the end of 60 days; making the average 

 ration 14 Ibs. per day. 



We have always thought the English feeders inclined to 

 feed oil-cakes too liberally; that they feed albuminoids to 

 excess ; and it is quite possible that the Germans err in the 

 same way. If we examine the ration for the "baby 

 bullock," on page 250, we shall find the albuminoids very 

 large for so young an animal, during the last sixteen weeks, 

 when its average weight was under 1,000 Ibs. The 8 Ibs. 

 of cake and meal contained 1.89 Ibs. albuminoids, the man- 

 golds .33 Ibs., and the grass, clover, etc., must have con- 

 tained 1 Ib. making 3.19 Ibs. albuminoids ; whilst in the 

 case we gave, on page 252, the 3 Ibs. cake, 5 Ibs. corn- 

 meal and grass, would not exceed 2.13 Ibs. of albuminoid 

 substance. 



