FEEDING WORKING ANIMALS 391 



determining through scientific investigations the amount 

 of work performed in various ways and the relation of a 

 unit of food to a unit of work. It would not be far from 

 the truth to state, however, that the feeding standards 

 which are offered to us through investigations made by 

 Boussingault, Wolff, LeClerc, Grandeau, Hoffmeister, 

 Lavalard, Zuntz, Kellner, and others, are the outgrowth 

 of both practical observations and scientific research, a 

 most desirable combination. In a large number of 

 instances the kind and quantities of digestible food con- 

 sumed daily by working horses have been determined, 

 and in many cases the accompanying wastes and gain 

 and loss of the animal body have been measured. 



The standard rations now found in German tables 

 are the result of such observations. According to these 

 standards a 1,000-pound horse requires 11.4 pounds of 

 digestible food daily when doing moderate work, 13.6 

 pounds for average work, and 16.6 pounds for heavy 

 work. With a basal ration of 10 pounds of hay, the grain 

 needed to furnish these quantities of digestible nutrients, 

 when consisting of a mixture in equal parts of corn and 

 oats, would be approximately 11.5 pounds, 15 pounds, and 

 20 pounds for the three conditions of labor. Lavalard, 

 who made observations covering a period of a number of 

 years for 32,000 omnibus, army, and draft horses, has 

 reached the conclusion that "a horse performing ordinary 

 work requires 115 grams of digestible protein and 1,100 

 grams of digestible carbohydrates per 100 kilograms 

 hve weight." This is at the rate of 1.215 pounds of 

 digestible nutrients for 100 pounds of live weight. This 

 observer bases the ration upon the weight of the animal, 

 but practically concedes that "somewhat larger amounts 

 of protein and carbohydrates are considered necessary 



