410 3IA]SrUAL OF CATTLE-FEEDmG. 



f eedins^ must also be increased, until the ration may finally 

 come to consist almost wholly of oats. 



The Hohenheim Experiments. — The only experi- 

 ments on the feeding of working horses are tlioso recently 

 executed at Hohenheim by "Wolff and others. These ex- 

 periments were made primarily to test the digestibility of 

 various feeding-stuffs ; but some information may be gained 

 fi*om them as to the amount of nutriment needed by the 

 horse. The experiments were all made on the same ani- 

 mal, and consequently the results are strictly applicable 

 only to this animal, but, at the same time, it is to be an- 

 ticipated that the general conclusions drawn from them will 

 be confirmed by subsequent investigation. 



Quantity of Fodder. — In these experiments it was 

 found that a horse weighing 1,100 — 1,300 lbs., when fed 

 exclusively on hay, easily ate 22 lbs. per day, but that 27^ 

 lbs. appeared to be the maximum amount which he could 

 consume. These amounts contained respectively 19.4: lbs. 

 and 24.0 lbs. of dry matter. In later ex])eriments, in 

 which grain was fed, the maximum amount of dry matter 

 consumed per day was 25 lbs. 



It would thus appear that 20 — 25 lbs. is about the limit 

 for the amount of total dry matter in the ration of a horse 

 weighing 1,200 lbs. It will be seen at once that, as was 

 to be expected, this quantity is much less than is consumed 

 by ruminating animals. This fact was strikingly shown in 

 some experiments in which the same hay was fed to sheep 

 for comparison. The latter animals consumed, per 1,000 

 lbs. live-weight, 31.25 lbs. of hay, containing 27.2 lbs. of 

 dry matter, and could apparently have eaten more. 



Digestible Nutrients. — The following table *'^' contains 



Wolff : Landv7. Jahrbticher, VIII. , I. Supplement, p. 113. 



