Injtuence of Feed on the Animal Body. 95 



TMs system of feeding, or absence of feeding, excited mncli 

 discussion in the agricultural press at the time, but the practice 

 seems never to have become general and the subject is now 

 almost forgotten. 



126. Saaborn's trials. — At the Utah Station, ^ Sanborn main- 

 tained a calf six weeks in winter on grain and milk, when, 

 through itB cravings for coarse forage, the sawdust used for bed- 

 ding was eaten, with death as a consequence. Sheep were success- 

 fully maintained for several months on grain and roots, with no 

 coarse forage whatever. They shrank in weight at first, but 

 after the paunch was cleared of coarse feed they made fair gains. 

 A two-year-old steer weighing 635 poimds on April 13, was fed 

 grain only, with water, until December 2 following, when it 

 weighed 825 pounds. Eumination ceased upon withdrawal of 

 coarse feed. It was observed that gains in these trials were made 

 on about the same amount of feed as is required with pigs. 

 Cattle so fed drank very little water, voiding a larger proportion 

 as urine than those fed in the usual manner. The first and second 

 stomachs of sheep and cattle so fed weighed less than the average 

 for such animals, the first stomach notably so. When slaughtered 

 the first stomach was found hardly half full. The blood of the 

 steer weighed more than the average, and the lungs less. 



127. Davenport's experiments. — At the Illinois Station, ^ Daven- 

 port maintained calves upon skim milk or skim milk and grain 

 for long periods. A June calf was maintained exclusively upon 

 skim milk until the following January, seven months, by which 

 time it refused its feed, could not hold up its head and appeared 

 nearly dead. When straw and hay were placed before it they 

 were greedily consumed, and three hours later the calf was 

 ruminating in contentment, thereafter making satisfactory gains 

 upon mixed feed. In a second experiment a calf dropped in May 

 subsisted on skim milk only until September, when, although 

 consuming seventy pounds of skim milk daily, the creature 

 showed great unrest. Some grain was then fed in addition to 

 milk, with still unfavorable indications. In October, when hay 

 was offered, it was greedily eaten and rumination began five 



^ Bui. 21. " Bui. 46. 



