FEEDING ANIMALS. 
185 
scribe the necessary diet to correct defective conditions instead 
of giving condition powders. However, the}^ act admirably 
when given together. The basis of all intelligent and success¬ 
ful feeding is in the recognition of the underlying fact, that 
the various feeds are composed of the same elements as the 
bodies they nourish. In other words, vegetation incorporates, 
from soil and air, the materials that the animal body is about 
to appropriate. But the proportions are seldom right. 
The water, ash, protein, fat and carbohydrates of the various 
forage plants and cereals, are in widely varying proportions 
and degrees of digestibility, so that it is possible to starve an 
animal while giving it all it is able to eat; to greatly curtail the 
production of milk by a badly balanced ration, or to so diminish 
force as to render an animal worthless for work. To feed for bare 
maintenance is one thing, for rapid growth and full develop¬ 
ment, a better thing ; to feed a milk cow, at a loss, an easy 
thing ; to feed a horse, up to his full capacity for work, a grand 
thing. While pedigree is important, skill in feeding makes 
the successful breeder. We have different kinds of feeding, 
scientific feeding, the right materials, in exact proportions, for 
desired results ; good feeding, derived from the experience of 
one’s self and teachings of others ; haphazard feeding and ig¬ 
norant, careless, ruinous, criminal feeding. But our live stock 
interests, the greatest of any people upon the globe, demand 
that we understand and practice the business for best results. 
Science is the lever, experience the hand that applies it, love 
and admiration for our animals the inspiration and profit accru¬ 
ing the consummation devoutly wished for. The science of 
feeding is exact, so far as determining the relative proportions 
of the digestible protein to the carbohydrates and fat, for differ¬ 
ent purposes, under the same conditions. Animals are kept 
under such widely different circumstances, as to shelter, venti¬ 
lation, exercise and work and have formed different habits from 
influence of environment, making it hard to lay down inflexible 
rules. The analysis of the different foods at hand, a careful 
study of the condition, purpose and’characteristics of the animal 
