FEEDING FOR MEAT 365 



well as upon the quality of the product, and the necessity 

 of avoiding so large a preponderance of carbohydrates 

 as to cause a possible depression of digestibility, are all 

 points which must be considered in determining the value 

 of a ration. We should remember, also, that the stimulat- 

 ing effect, of the food upon the vital fimctions is a factor 

 in successful feeding. So, after all, we must appeal to 

 experience, scientific and practical, for information as to 

 what rations are efficient for fattening purposes. 



The G«rman standard rations for fattening bovines 

 which were recommended called for 18 to 18.4 pounds of 

 digestible organic matter daily for each 1,000 pounds of 

 live weight, with a ratio of 1 : 5.4 to 1 : 6.5, requiring from 

 2.5 to 3 pounds of a digestible protein. In view of more 

 recent scientific conclusions concerning the fxmctions of 

 nutrients, it is not easy to understand why a fattening 

 steer requires more protein than a milch cow or even 

 as much. 



462. Scientific experiments with fattening animals. — 

 Feeding experiments with fattening oxen, conducted 

 under the improved methods of research, give results 

 not inconsistent with the facts to which attention has 

 been called. Kellner made a large niunber of experi- 

 ments with fattening animals by the aid of the respiration 

 apparatus, and he concluded that the nutritive ratio of 

 a fattening-ration may vary from 1:4 to 1 : 10 without 

 affecting the increase of body substance from a unit of 

 digestible food material, provided, however, that the 

 nutrients supplied above maintenance needs shall come 

 from the more easily digestible feeding-stuffs. He cites, 

 in the support of his conclusion, the outcome of nineteen 

 previous experiments by Wolff, in which rations varying 

 in nutritive ratio from 1:4 to 1 : 9.5 showed no material 



