158 MANUAL OF CATTLE-FEEDING. 



Tlie importance of this in the feeding of domestic ani- 

 mals is evident. Fodders containing much fat are com- 

 paratively costly, and not only that, but are diiBcult of 

 digestion by herbivorous animals, and an undue amount of 

 them is liable to produce injurious effects. On the other 

 hand, the carbhydrates are cheap, are contained in large 

 proportions in all the common fodders, and are readily 

 consumed and digested by the herbivora. 



These substances in the food of the herbivora effect 

 what the fat does in that of the carnivora : they decrease 

 the protein consumption, and enable the animal to subsist 

 on a much smaller quantity of the costly albuminoids than 

 would otherwise be necessary. It is owing chiefly to the 

 large quantities of them consumed by our domestic animals 

 that they need comparatively little protein when fed for 

 maintenance, and that when fed for production a part of 

 the digested protein is readily deposited in the body as 

 organized protein. 



§ 7. Nutritive Yai^tje of Amides. 



Wo saw in Chapter II. that a part of the nitrogenous 

 matter of many feeding-stuffs is not true protein, but con- 

 sists of various bodies, most of which appear to belong to 

 the so-called amide compounds. It becomes, therefore, im- 

 portant to consider the nutritive value of these substances, 

 and all the more important because, until very recently, they 

 have not been considered, or even recognized, in the analysis 

 of feeding-stuffs, and since in many feeding experiments, 

 f roin whose results important conclusions have been drawn 

 as to the amounts of the various nutrients required in the 

 food of farm aninxals, feeding-stuffs have been used which 



