FEEDING STANDARDS.

By H. A. WEBER, Chemist.

PROBLEM OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

After the establishment of the German Experiment Stations one of the first problems attacked was the feeding of farm animals. The investigations undertaken in this direction resulted in the establishment of a rational system of feeding which next to soil fertility is of the greatest importance in the whole domain of agriculture.

The time, labor and money spent to secure this desirable end were simply enormous taken in the aggregate, since they had to embrace the following investigations:

INVESTIGATIONS EMBRACED.

I. The analysis of the whole mass of materials used in feeding. 2. The determination of the digestibility of the nutrients in each separate feeding stuff.

3. The proper amount of feed as well as the proper amounts and proportions of the various nutrients necessary for the greatest and most economical production of growth, flesh, fat, milk, wool and work. 4. Average digestible nutrients and fertilizing constituents in American feeding stuffs.

RESULTS ACCOMPLISHED.

This is not the place to consider in detail how these results were accomplished. The reader must be satisfied with the results, and these are given in brief to meet the demands made upon this Department by feeders, who are anxious to obtain some information in regard to the feeding standards of farm animals.

For this purpose three tables are submitted, which give the data for the preparation of proper rations to answer the requirements of farm animals in the various uses to which they are put; also gives fertilizing constitutents.

TABLE I.

Table I is compiled from the most recent reports of experiment stations and manuals of cattle feeding and gives the number of pounds of digestible nutrients in 100 pounds of the respective feeding stuffs.

TABLE II.

Table II is taken bodily from Henry's Feeds and Feeding. As

this table is identical with that published in Mentzel & Lengerke's Landw Kalender, it no doubt represents the feeding standards of farm animals as determined by experiment up to date.

TABLE III.

Table III gives the digestible nutrients and fertilizing constituents in American feeding stuffs; is taken from Henry's Feeds and Feeding, who in turn secured a number of the results from Bulletin 22, Office of Experiment Station, United States Department of Agriculture and various other sources.

COMPOUNDING A RATION.

As an example for using the tables in compounding a ration, we will take the case of a milch cow giving about 16.6 pounds of milk per day. Suppose the feeder has the following feeding stuffs at command: average timothy hay, oat straw, corn silage and soy beans.

For the following weights of the feeding stuffs the corresponding weights of the digestible nutrients and dry matter are readily obtained from Table I:

The ration thus compounded is a little high in fat, which also makes the nutritive ratio a little wider than the standard. But on the whole it may be considered near enough for all practical purposes.

Hence 10 pounds of hay, 10 pounds of oat straw, 20 pounds of corn silage and 5 pounds of soy beans make a suitable ration per 1,000 pounds live weight per day.

NUTRITIVE RATIO.

The nutritive ratio is found by dividing the sum of the digestible carbohydrates plus 2.4 times the digestible fat by the digestible pro

tein.

TABLE I.

Average number of Pounds of dry matter and Digestible Nutrients in 100 Pounds of Principal Feeding Stuffs, with the Nutritive Ratio.

TABLE II.

FEEDING STANDARDS FOR FARM ANIMALS.

Pounds of Dry Matter and Digestible Nutrients Per Day Per 1,000 Pounds Live Weight Together With Nutritive Ratio.