CHAPTER XIV 



THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PROPER FEEDING 



Balanced Rations. — What is meant by balanced 

 rations? It is not within the scope of a single chapter to 

 discuss the varied and important problems involved in 

 the subject of food values and their proper ratios for 

 different purposes. The goat- breeder, if untrained along 

 this line, is recommended to obtain a standard book that 

 deals with the subject, and to give it careful study. One 

 of the best is " Feeds and Feeding," by Henry and 

 Morrison. Meanwhile, in case someone finds himself in 

 possession of a goat, and has no idea at all what to feed 

 her, some very simple and superficial explanations of the 

 theory of feeding may be offered, together with sugges- 

 tions for carrying them out in practice. 



The principal constituents of all feed stuffs are 

 classed in two main groups, proteins and carbohydrates. 

 Both these two food elements, or nutrients, exist in every 

 form of feed, but in different proportion to each other in 

 different articles. This proportion is indicated as a ratio, 

 called the " nutritive ratio." For example, the nutritive 

 ratio of alfalfa hay is 1 : 4.3, which means that in any 

 given quantity of alfalfa hay there is one pound of pro- 



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