ENERGY VALUES OF RATIONS FOR FARM ANIMALS. 29 



The weighing of coarse fodder is usually a more difficult problem 

 on account of its bulk. When, however, silage or cut fodder is 

 handled in trucks, the matter is still comparatively simple. Long 

 fodder, on the contrary, is not readily weighed. Nevertheless, even 

 here an occasional weighing, if practicable, as a control upon the 

 feeding, is very desirable. 



In all these and similar matters common sense is necessary. The 

 computed ration expresses the best estimate that can be made of the 

 actual average requirements, but it is at best more or less of an 

 approximation. It would .be foolish, therefore, to seek extreme 

 exactness in realizing it or to go to more expense in the weighing 

 and apportioning of the feed than the saving in the latter would 

 amount to. The scale upon which the feeding is conducted will play 

 an important part. Where scores or hundreds of animals are being 

 fed, an exactness may be profitably sought which would be absurd 

 in the case of two or three animals. Finally, it should be remem- 

 bered that these computed rations are guides and not recipes. They 

 may aid the feeder in wisely using the resources at his command, 

 but they can not take the place of experience and good judgment. 



BEARING ON FARM MANAGEMENT. 



The data and the methods of computation on previous pages will 

 aid the feeder in determining the amounts of each class of feeds 

 needed for each class of his animals. The man of good business 

 habits will find them useful in determining the quantities of each 

 kind of feed to grow or purchase and in deciding upon the purchase 

 of animals to feed and the feeds to keep or to purchase for feeding 

 them. These facts and methods will aid the farmer, the feeder, or 

 the user of work animals in deciding upon the chances of profit in 

 proposed enterprises. Often by using these formal ways of check- 

 ing up a proposed business project the way is made more clear to 

 avoid loss and to secure the largest practicable profit. In case of the 

 farmer who grows most of his feed stuffs, these facts and methods 

 of calculation may often be used in connection with the planning 

 of his scheme of crop rotation and in proportioning the acreages of 

 the respective crops to each other and to the numbers of each class 

 of animals. They will prove useful in reducing the farm-manage- 

 ment plan to a scientific basis. 



