FIFTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 35 



from stock farming or any other type of farming in the 

 present and in the future, it will require a much more intelli- 

 gent and scientific kind of farming than in the past. 



Farm Animals are Living Machines 



Many people do not understand that farm animals are 

 machines for converting or changing the crops of the fields 

 into valuable animal products. Just as it is impossible to 

 manufacture steel from the wrong kind of materials, so 

 these living machines can not manufacture animal products 

 efficiently and economically unless they are supplied with 

 the right amounts and kinds of raw materials. 



We call a ration or daily feed which furnishes an ani- 

 mal with the correct kind and the right amount of the var- 

 ious food materials for its particular needs a "balanced 

 ration". Many farmers seem to be afraid of this term 

 "balanced ration". Though they have heard about bal- 

 anced rations, they have a very hazy idea as to whether the 

 feeds they are supplying their stock provide balanced ra- 

 tions or not. In other words, they do not know whether 

 they are furnishing their live stock with the right kind or 

 the proper amount of the various food nutrients to permit 

 them to make profits. 



Protein the Key to Balanced Rations 



Protein is the food material most apt to be lacknig in 

 ordinary rations, and protein in abundance is needed by 

 animals to furnish the raw material for the manufacture 

 of meat, muscle, wool, and the protein part of milk. There- 

 ore, the most important part of balancing a ration for live 

 stock is to provide a proper amount of protein in the ration. 



Recent investigations show that vitamins and mineral 

 matter are also necessary for efficient rations. Fortunately, 

 however, these needs can generally be fully supplied by 

 providing stock with good pasture in the summer and with 

 plenty of well cured legume hay in the winter, as is pointed 

 out later in this discussion. 



