DIGESTIBILITY OF FEEDING STUFFS 67 
Grinding, Cutting, or Rolling of Feeds.—The digestibility of 
feeding stuffs is not, as a general rule, materially altered by special 
methods of preparation, like cutting, grinding, cracking, or rolling. 
An exception to this rule is found in the case of old or very young 
animals that cannot chew their feed well, and with small, hard seeds 
that would largely pass through the digestive tract unbroken and 
would not be acted upon by the digestive fluids of the body. When 
used for feeding farm animals, grains like wheat, barley, rye, kafir 
corn, etc., are therefore usually ground, and other cereals (corn, 
oats) are ground only when fed to young animals or to very old 
animals, so as to insure a maximum digestibility. If whole or 
broken grain reappears in the dung of the animals, it is evident that 
the feed had better be ground, or, if already ground, that too much is 
fed, and the allowance should in that case be reduced. 
Hay and other roughage is sometimes run through a cutter 
before being fed out when of poor quality, or for mixing with other 
feeds, so that the animals may eat as much as possible thereof. In 
the western States alfalfa hay is frequently cut for steers and dairy 
cows. This is considered as economical practice, both because it 
insures the hay being eaten without waste and because it means a 
considerable saving of storage room. It is a common practice in 
European countries to feed cut straw mixed with grain to horses and 
occasionally to other farm animals, so as to induce them to consume 
a considerable amount of cheap roughage. 
Soaking, Cooking, or Steaming Feed.—The digestibility of 
feeding stuffs is not influenced by soaking or wetting these prior to 
feeding time, but a depression of the digestion: coefficients for protein 
will occur when the feeds are boiled, steamed, or otherwise subjected 
to high temperatures. The method of cooking feed was at one time 
much practised, especially among European farmers, but it has now 
been generally abandoned, except in the case of feeding swine. 
Numerous trials conducted at experiment stations have shown that 
it does not, in general, pay to cook feed for farm stock. There is 
a certain advantage in cooking potatoes and in steaming cut straw 
and hay of poor quality when intended for feeding swine, from the 
fact that the cell tissues are softened by the process, and the non- 
nitrogenous components are thus acted upon more thoroughly by the 
digestive fluids. 
This does not refer to the protein substances, however, as these 
are rendered less digestible through the action of heat. "The per- 
centage of digestible protein in fresh, wet beet pulp was thus found 
by artificial digestion to be 60.1 per cent; after being dried at 
