202 
THE CULTIVATOR 
1854 . 
The Laws of Alimentation, 
AS APPLICABLE TO SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
“ It costs no more to produce fine than coarse wool.”—J. 
Van Boren. Clarksville , Ga 
“ By an irrepealable law of nature, small sheep consume 
no more food, according to their weight, than the larger 
breed.”—J. W. Colburne, Springjield, Vt. 
“ A few facts in Wool-Growing are conclusively settled, 
viz:—All animals require food according to their live weight, 
and a like quantity of food Will produce an equal quantity of 
clean wool upon all sheep raised for the value of their fleece.” 
—Joseph Parker, West Rupert , Vt. 
u The expense of keeping large and small sheep is in pro¬ 
portion to their weight.”— T. Wendell, Farmington, Ct. 
“ Sheep at maturity require food according to their weight; 
and, other things being equal, we may expect about an equal 
return, whether the animal be large or small.”— George 
Campbell, West Westminster , Vt. 
“ By a universal law, the larger animal, of the same spe¬ 
cies, consumes a proportional)ly larger amount of food.”— 
H. S. Randall, Cortlandville , N. Y. 
“ It takes an equal amount of food to produce a pound of 
flesh or wool, without regard to the size of the sheep, and 
the same food that will produce a pound of coarse wool, will 
produce a pound of fine.”—H. C. W., Co. Gent, of April 20. 
This somewhat formidable array of quotations, if it 
does not prove what is asserted, does at least prove that 
the opinion is common— 
First —That the size of a sheep is the measure of 
the food it requires ; and 
Secondly —That the food consumed by a sheep, is 
a measure of the flesh, fat, or wool produced. 
If these propositions are true of sheep, they are 
equally so of other animals, and the subject is of the 
greatest importance to every farmer. If true, the busi¬ 
ness of stock breeding is certainly much simplified. 
The selection of stock needs no skill, if the income 
from it is a matter of fore-ordination, which no stupid¬ 
ity can diminish, nor the greatest skill, intelligence, 
or taste, increase. If the income from animals is thus 
fixed, there can be no hope of change for the better. 
Agricultural progress is impossible, fogy ism is wisdom, 
and improvement a humbug. 
The gentlemen whose names have been quoted, must 
not infer a want of respect, but give me credit for 
honesty, when I express the full conviction, that these 
two propositions contain as much and as dangerous er¬ 
ror as can be expressed in so few words. 
It is proposed to show the fallacy of these two pro¬ 
positions, in their order. 
First—The food which a sheep requires is not in 
proportion to its size. 
The amount of food which a sheep requires, is af¬ 
fected, 
1. By respiration. > 
In breathing the sheep receives oxygen and gives out 
carbon. Of all the food of the sheep, one-half is car¬ 
bon ; and of this, more than one-half is consumed in 
the fire of respiration. Thus more than one-fourth of 
all the food is used to keep the machine in motion. 
The quantity of food so used, depends not on the size 
of the animal, but on the amount of respiration ; and 
this is affected by the degree cf perfection in the lungs 
and by external causes, as exercise. In violent labor 
..more food is required, because more is consumed in 
.breathing. Respiration is affected by climate. In 
cold weather, more oxygen is inhaled and more car¬ 
bon expired; so in hot climates, less food is used; 
while in the cold regions of the poles, the quantity 
consumed is enormous. We have here one-fourth of 
the food consumed in a manner not necessarily con¬ 
nected with the size of the animal. 
2. The amount of food required, is affected by the 
absolute waste. 
A portion of the food of animals, greater or less in 
different individuals, does not enter into the circula¬ 
tion at all, but passes away undigested, from the 
system. The amount of this waste depends on the con¬ 
dition of the organs of digestion, and not on the size of 
the animal. 
3. The amount of food necessary, depends on the 
natural waste from the substance of the body. 
The bodies of animals are constantly changing. 
Small portions are constantly passing off, and their 
places filled by secretions from the blood. In this man¬ 
ner, the whole substance of the body, including the 
bones, is supposed to change in from three to five years. 
More than half of all the food consumed by sheep, is 
applied to this waste, and carried off as excretions from 
the lungs, the skin, the kidneys, and the alimentary 
canal. The amount of this waste depends on the con¬ 
dition of these organs, and not on the size of the ani¬ 
mal. 
4. The amount of food which a sheep requires, is af¬ 
fected by the age of the animal. 
Young animals require more food to supply a great¬ 
er degree of activity in respiration, digestion and as¬ 
similation. 
5. The amount of food is affected by the ^condition 
of the animal. 
6. More food is required to supply certain drains 
from the system. 
More food i3 required during gestation and lacta¬ 
tion. Fine wooled sheep secrete from the skin, an 
oleaginous substance called yolk. This secretion in¬ 
creases as the condition of the animal; is constant, and 
in amount, reckoned by Youatt, at one-half the weight 
of the fleece. It operates as a drain upon the consti¬ 
tution, which must be supplied with additional food. 
All these circumstances have their influence in de¬ 
termining the amount of food which the sheep re¬ 
quires ; and fully justify the position that it does not 
depend on size alone. 
Second—The food consumed by a sheep , is not a 
measure of the product, in either flesh, fat, or wool 
The sheep nta}' be considered an animal machine. 
The different kinds are machines for different purposes; 
one adapted to the production of wool, another of flesh 
or fat, and a third neither. If a certain quantity of 
food be given to these different animals, the products 
will differ as certainly as if a bushel of corn were fed 
to a corn mill, a starch machine and a distillery. The 
first two would produce equivalents, but of different 
kinds, while the third would waste all. The product 
in these eases, will depend in kind , upon the nature of 
the mill, and in quantity upon the perfection of the 
machinery. So in feeding the animal, the product 
will be flesh, fat, wool, or nothing, according to the 
nature of the animal, and the amount of either, ac¬ 
cording to the degree of perfection in the organi¬ 
zation of the animal. Mord generally the product of 
machinery, whether it be a sheep or cotton mill, de¬ 
pends on the nature and perfection of the machinery, 
and not on the amount of material consumed, and still 
less on the size of the building which contains it. 
It is a common opinion that all the elements of flesh, 
fat, and, wool, contained in the food of sheep, will go 
to the formation of these products. Thus a writer, oth¬ 
erwise very intelligent, says, in the Patent Office Re¬ 
port for 1851, “ every particle of food, containing the 
elements of wool, will be assimilated in such a manner 
as to increase its growth.” Then, as a pound of dry 
hay contains the elements of a pound of wool, and each 
sheep consumes the equivalent of ten times its weight 
