270 MAISrtJAL OF OATTLE-FEEDING. 



on the one hand, hy the appetite o£ the aiiinial and tlie 

 qnantity o£ fodder which it can eat and digest day by day, 

 and on the other hand, by the whole organization of the 

 animal and its temperament and congenital peculiarities. 



With this, however, the actual percentage digestibility 

 of a fodder has primarily nothing to do. The latter is 

 essentially the same in all breeds for tljie same fodder, it 

 beings of course, assumed that there are no individual 

 peculiarities of digestion to disturb the result. 



Age of the Animals.— Even at different |,ges or in 

 different stages of growth the digestive power for any 

 given fodder seems to be nearly the same, provided that 

 the animals are weaned from milk and that the fodder is 

 agreeable in taste and sufficient in nutritive effect. This 

 fact has been shown by experiments made in Ilohenheina "^ 

 on lambs of two races, and continued for nine months con- 

 secutively (from the fifth to the fourteenth month of their 

 age), and which included both exclusive hay fodder and 

 rich feeding with hay and grain. Kecent experiments 

 made by Weiskef on lambs, extending over about ten 

 months, have given the same result. 



It is of coui^se possible tliat this constancy of digestive 

 power would be less marked in case of a poor and diffi- 

 cultly-digestible fodder, but young animals, so long as they 

 are capable of and inclined to rapid growth, cannot thrive 

 on such a fodder ; they consume a quantity insufficient for 

 their normal nourishment, and must suffer under a long 

 continuance of such treatment. 



ladividtial Peonliarities have often a greater influence 

 on the digestive process than the breed or even the species 

 of the animal. 



* Landw Jahrbuolier, II , 2119, 

 flbid., iX.,205. 



