THE FEEDING OF LIVE STOCK. ' 161 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE FEEDING OF LIVE STOCK. 



No one kind of food, unless we except milk, 

 meets all the requirements of the domesticated 

 animal. The composition of all others is one- 

 sided, and it is essential that two or more foods 

 be fed so as to give a ration that will be fairly 

 balanced, and not one-sided. Some foods are 

 more neai'ly perfect for certain animals than 

 others, but combinations usually bring about 

 the best results in ieeding. 



Constituents of foods.— The chemist who an- 

 alyzes a food finds it composed of several groups 

 of substances quite different in character. For 

 the feeder's purpose three of these only need 

 be considered. First is the protein, consisting 

 of a class of bodies best represented in the com- 

 position of the white of an egg or in perfectly 

 lean meat. The muscles of the body consist 

 mainly of protein. Another group is known as 

 earbohi/drates, or heat-formers. These consist 

 mostly of starch, sugar, and woody fibre or cel- 

 lulose. The third group is the fat of the plant, 

 as for example the oil extracted from the cot- 

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