62 Animal Husbandry 
Lenets or INTESTINES AND Capacity oF StoMacH oF Farm ANIMALS 
Capacity, QUARTS 
ANIMALS ToraL Lenore: FEE iz 
Stomach Intestines 
Horse. . ... . 19.0 204.8 223.8 98.1 
COW . 2. we ew 266.9 109.8 376.7 187.2 
Sheep foe 8 31.3 15.4 - 46.7 107.3 
FHOG: Gk ko ee ote 8.5 20.5 29.0 77.1 
116. Digestible nutrients. — Digestible nutrients are those 
parts of food materials that are digested and appropriated to the 
animal’s use. Our knowledge of the amount of the food materials 
that are digested is based on experimental data, and while not 
absolutely accurate, is sufficiently so for practical: purposes. The 
method of determining the digestible nutrients is as follows: the 
animal is fed for a sufficient length of time on a certain food or 
combination of foods, so that the digestive organs contain only 
the food under test. Then for a certain length of time the animal 
is fed a carefully weighed allowance of some food, the composition 
of which has been previously determined by a chemist. Provision 
is then made for collecting all excreta. By making an analysis 
of this waste matter, the undigested protein, carbohydrates, and 
fat are found. This, deducted from the total in the food, gives 
the digested part. The amount of each constituent digested 
divided by the total in the food gives the percentage digestible. 
This is called the “coefficient of digestibility.” Having the com- 
position of the food as determined by the chemist, and the digestible 
coefficient as determined with the animal, it is an easy matter to 
calculate the amount of digestible nutrients in the various food- 
stuffs. It is with the digestible nutrients, and not the total food 
materials, that the feeder is concerned in choosing a ration. A 
great deal of work has been done at the various experiment stations 
