^8 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



iDohydrates used by man and beas t as food. We can readily understand 

 how abundant the carbohydrates are, and we will learn further on by the 

 taTDles what quantities are requir ed by some of our farm animals. 



FAT OR ETHER EXTRACT. 



The fatty substances of forage materials are called "ether extractsi" 

 by the chemist. We can readily understand what soirt of substance the 

 fat or feeding materials is. Corn contains a considerable quantity of oil 

 or fat, and linseed meal or cotton -seed meal still moTe. There is con- 

 jsiderable oil in oats, but not much in corn stalks or wheat straw. 



A pound of oil from flax or Indian icorn, for example, will give off 

 more than two times as much heat when it is burned as will an equal 

 weight of sugar and starch, and t his being true, we may readily believe 

 that foir certain uses' in the animal body fat or ether extract is worth more 

 than twice as much as the same weight of carbohydrates in the form of 

 sugar or starch. Oil and the carbohydrates contain the same elements 

 and so serve the same purpose in the animal body, namely, furnishing heat 

 and energy and building up the fatty tissues. The fat of feeding stuffs' is 

 a concentrated form of fuel just as coal is a more concentrated source of 

 heat than is wood. Fat stored in the body is a supply of fuel for the body 

 against a time of need. When an animal is starving, or when it is sick, 

 it often lives for d'ays' upon the fat stored away in the body. The shrink- 

 age which the body undergoes at such time is in part due to the loss of 

 fat which is given up for the purpose of supporting life. 



MINERAL MATTER AND WATER. 



For building up the bony framework of the body there is required a 

 certain amount of mineral matter, and some exists also in the tissues of 

 the body. Generally where animals are properly nourished otherwise, 

 they are getting in their food all of the mineral matters they require. 

 Since we must be very brief at this time we will not talk further about 

 mineral matter. 



