THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 51 



food the animal will consume and make sufficient returns for in 

 production. The more an animal consumes in excess of the 

 amount required for maintenance, the more it can produce. 

 While it is true in a sense that the amount of production is in 

 proportion to the amount of food consumed in excess of that 

 required for maintenance, it is only within rather narrow limits 

 that this relation holds strictly true. The individuality of the 

 animal plays an important part. All farm animals will eat and 

 digest- more food than is required for maintenance, but the 

 amount of product that comes from this excess of food is very 

 variable, and in many cases this makes the difference between a 

 profitable and an unprofitable animal as well as a successful and 

 an unsuccessful feeder. This variation among individual ani- 

 mals is so great that standards for production can be used only 

 as mere guides. The economical and profitable feeding of farm 

 animals depends much on the feeder's observations of the 

 animals directly in charge, to determine their capacity for the 

 use of food. 



Feeding-standards for farm animals. — A feeding-standard is a 

 rule to which all rations should conform for a given purpose. 

 The Germans have done much work in establishing such stand- 

 ards, which have long been in general use as guides in computing 

 rations for farm animals. There is now, however, a prevailing 

 impression among American investigators that these standards 

 call for more protein than is needed for best results. Under 

 conditions as they exist in this country, a reduction of the protein 

 seems advisable, although just how much it is impossible to say. 

 A reduction of 10 per cent has been recommended as not un- 

 reasonable. 



BALANCED RATION 



A balanced ration is one that contains the food nutrients 

 in the proper proportion to meet the needs of the animal for a 

 given purpose. Skill in balancing a ration depends much on 

 one's knowledge of the composition and digestibility of the more ■ 



